From “Pure” to “Hybrid” Professionalism

TLDR

Public sectors face challenges to professionalism as classic professions weaken, welfare state occupations professionalize, and managers seek professional status, raising questions about the field. The study seeks to define professionalism, examine professional control in ambiguous domains, and explore how mixing control types transforms classic professionalism into hybrid forms. The authors conceptualize classic professionalism as controlled content and trace its evolution into hybrid professionalism within health care and social work. The study finds that contemporary professionalism is characterized by content of control rather than controlled content.

Abstract

Public sectors struggle with professionalism. Classic professions are weakened, welfare state occupations professionalize, and public managers try to become professionals. This raises questions. What is professionalism? What is professional control in ambiguous occupational domains? What happens when different types of occupational control get mixed up? The first question is answered by portraying classic professionalism as “controlled content.” The second question is answered by tracing a transition from “pure” to “hybrid” professionalism in domains such as health care and social work. The third question is answered by portraying present-day professionalism as “content of control” instead of controlled content.