The System of Professions. An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor

In The System of Professions Andrew Abbott explores central questions about the role of professions in modern life : Why should there be occupational groups controlling expert knowledge ? Where and why did groups such as law and medicine achieve their power ? Will professionalism spread throughout the occupational world ? While most inquiries in this field study one profession at a time, Abbott here considers the system of professions as a whole.
Through comparative and historical study of the professions in nineteenth- and twentieth-century England, France, and America, Abbott builds a general theory of how and why professionals evolve. Abbot begins by evaluating the link - which he calls jurisdiction - between an occupation and its work. The concept of jurisdiction leads directly to an analysis of professions as existing in a system ; since one profession can preempt anther's work, the histories of professions are inevitably interdependent.
Abbott goes on to discuss both internal and external cultural and social forces bearing on this system and closes by illustrating his approach with three detailed histories of contested jurisdictions, in the areas of information, law, and psychotherapy. Underlying Abbott's theoretical synthesis is an explanation of how a division of labor - in this case a division of expert labor - constructs itself in modern society.
In addressing this question, he also offers a powerful analysis of contingency that bridges the gap between analytic sociology and narrative history. Written with grace and clarity, this highly original treatise will be required reading for those interested in the history and sociology of the professions.