Presentation for the ISA Forum, RC52
August 2012 in Buenos Aires
Kurt Dauer Keller
Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University
The idea of professionalism
• The notion of professionalism as the ideal type of a ’third social logic’ next to
(state) bureaucracy and market (Freidson)
• The very idea of professionalism is theoretical (conceptual, discursive), and
of normative as well as of descriptive interest
• It must be conceived as a distinct political and sociocultural ’institution’: a
significant factor of the civil society, deeply rooted in our lifeworld and
civilization
• In its inherent association with ethics and trust: a notion of the entirety of
social order (alternative to ’the state’ and ’the market’)
• An open empirical question: in what ways and to what extent are concrete
professions marked by the habitus (and institution) of professionalism?
ISA Forum 2012
K.D. Keller, Aalborg University
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The style (and other important notions) of a profession
• The style: the recognized identity (prevailing image) of a characteristic
form of professional practice; the social sense and significance that it
represents
• not a cognitive or discursive idea, but a corporeal experience of
practical meaning
• The habitus: the actual organization and accomplishment of
professional work (not enough elucidated in previous research, cf.
Abbott 1988, Freidson 2001)
• The institution: the socioculturally taken for granted coherence
between the social field and the habitus of a profession
ISA Forum 2012
K.D. Keller, Aalborg University
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The phenomenological understanding of experience and behavior
as intentional (perspectival, oriented) meaning
 Figure on a background
 Theme in a context
 Event in a situation
Examples:
 A personal action that makes sense and is of significance within an interpersonal communication, an occupational community or an anonymous
socioculture
 The focus-foreground-background structure of work organization:
situated discretion - competent practice - social identity
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K.D. Keller, Aalborg University
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Ideal types of social order and their work organizational implications
IDEAL TYPICAL
SOCIAL ORDER
MOTIVATED
DISCRETION
INSTITUTED
PRACTICE
POSITIONING
(POWER GAME)
STATE
politics (law)
obedience
MARKET
economy (money)
self-interest
hierarchic
placement
competition
PROFESSION
ethics (trust)
impartiality
surveillance and
governance
turnover and
consumption
expert labour
ISA Forum 2012
K.D. Keller, Aalborg University
occupational
organization
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Dimensions of professional style
discursive
descriptive
interpretive
corporeal
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K.D. Keller, Aalborg University
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Practical understanding of evidence and expert knowledge to be
attained through health educations (Voldbjerg et al.)
 Corporeal knowledge in the education of nurses:
 Handling lung and throat tissue
 Actualizing emotions of sorrow and loss
 Interpretive knowledge in the education of occupational therapists:
 Evocation of a mythology of the establishment of the professional discipline
 Interpretive knowledge in the education of radiographers:
 Realizing how criteria of picture quality may depend on the context of application
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K.D. Keller, Aalborg University
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Developmental and dynamic coherence of varieties of expert
knowledge
Critical, reflected
explanation
Holistic, integrating
interpretation
Immediate, corporeal
understanding
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K.D. Keller, Aalborg University
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The democracy of professionalism and professions
Predominant aspects of democracy in the ideal types of social logic:
Realted to ’politics’:
 The state: delegation and civil rights (formal, ’cognitive’ orientation)
 The market: liberty (appetitive, ’conative’ orientation)
Related to ’the political’:
 The professionalism: character attitude (humanistic , ’emotional’ orientation)
Important aspects of democracy without particular relation to one ideal type:
 Freedom of organization, press and speech
 Deliberation
The cross-cutting question of ’systemic colonizing’ of the lifeworld (and civil society)
ISA Forum 2012
K.D. Keller, Aalborg University
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