Professions in a globalizing world: Towards a transnational sociology of the professions

Abstract

Globalization has significant implications for the professions, with the societies and the regulators around them changing and the realities of professional work in large organizations taking on increasingly transnational dimensions. However, while there is no lack of empirical studies of the globalization of individual professions and firms, the implications of processes of globalization, reregulation and governmental rescaling for neo-Weberian sociologies of the professions has not received the same attention. This article seeks to rectify this gap in knowledge by developing a transnational neo-Weberian sociology of the professions that takes account of the rescaling of the world that the professions inhabit and the important new research questions generated about the multi-scalar influences on the forms of regulation, power and legitimacy that underlie professional projects.

Professional disruption in health regulation: electronic cigarettes in the European Union

“…Why are some disruptions more impactful than others? Finally, the study should also be of interest to scholars of regulation and governance, especially in the transnational domain, in which an increasing share of work is falling to professionals who organize across national boundaries (Faulconbridge & Muzio 2012;Seabrooke 2014). Here it has provided potentially useful theory that can be brought to bear on disruptions in these domains, whether they stem from technological change or otherwise.…”

“…An important side to this story is the recent attention to how professional work increasingly transcends the boundaries of the nation-state and domestic markets, leading to calls for a transnational sociology of the professions (Faulconbridge & Muzio 2012). Thus, the professions are now seen as central to explaining a range of issues in global governance and international political economy, such as: capital account liberalization in emerging markets (Chwieroth 2007), knowledge networks in the World Bank (Stone 2013), financial reform (Seabrooke & Tsingou 2014), and demographic change (Seabrooke & Tsingou 2015).…”

“…For example, recent work has started to question whether the hard line between professionalized and other workers has much analytical value in contemporary organizational settings, given 'the rise over the last few decades of a number of very successful knowledge-intensive occupations, such as management consultancy, IT/systems analysis, advertising, financial intermediaries, and so on, which have not adopted traditional professionalization strategies' (Brock et al 2014 p. 8). Modern societies have increased the knowledge intensity and marketization of work, while also changing the character of the organizations that make up professional workplaces (Faulconbridge & Muzio 2012;Noordegraaf 2007 pp. 762-764).…”

Professional Competition in Global Tax Reform: Transparency in Global Wealth Chains

“…However, we can understand transnational professionals as actors 'beyond the nation-state' (Haas, 1992;Djelic and Quack 2010), which have leeway in mobilising to and engaging with global policy processes separated from the confines of entrenched domestic institutions and politics (Seabrooke 2014). Transnational professional competition is detached from national spaces and requires diverse knowledge and connections to address highly technical issues, providing a unique opportunity for mobile professionals to engage (Faulconbridge & Muzio, 2011). It offers professionals the chance to reconfigure "how they work rather than replicating their national institutions or changing their own to reflect other national institutions" (Seabrooke 2014:55).…”

Regional nursing council of Santa Catarina (1975-1986): importance for the profession

“…Any profession depends on negotiations with the State for establishing and maintaining ethical standards and reproduction of professional practices, supported by laws. 18 The professional Council officially represents the profession and by means of negotiations with the State, it participates in the ideas to establish, maintain, expand and defend legal advantages. 12 The internal movements of Coren/SC proceeded and the electoral process to compose the third mandate occurred in June 23, 1981, with a total enrollment of 938 voters and, among these, 298 were nurses, 640 technicians and nursing assistants.…”