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The making of 'professional amateurs

Professionalizing the voluntary work of service user representatives

Bibliographic Data

ID2301048
AuthorsTone Alm Andreassen (0000-0001-9976-3777, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Science, Norway), Eric Breit (0000-0001-5069-7406, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Science, Norway), Sveinung Legard (University of Oslo)
Year2014
Volume57
Issue4
Pages325-340
Publication date2014-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueActa Sociologica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-6993 • E-ISSN: 1502-3869
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0001699314552736
OpenAlexW2323189687
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited58

The aim of this article is, through empirical material from Norway, to grasp a particular form of non-profit professionalization spurred by the incorporation of policies of service user involvement in health care and in social services. By drawing on perspectives from the research on professionalization, our ambition is to increase the understanding of the nature of this form of professionalization, how it differs from other kinds of professionalization in the non-profit sector and why it achieves its distinctive features. We denote the professionalization of service users' work as representatives, as the making of 'professional amateurs' to capture its paradoxical nature - that while the process of professionalization resembles occupational professionalization, the voluntary workers who are becoming professionalized are still amateurs. It is professionalization in the form of increasing the competence of the voluntary workers, not professionalization through transforming voluntary work tasks into occupations and paid employment. It is a form of competence fundamentally resting on personal experience with the issues with which the work is concerned, not a competence to be achieved solely through education and professional training

Competence (human resources · Economics · Management · Political science · Professionalization · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Turnover · Voluntary sector · Law · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice · Social Work

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Unique citing works11
Citations per year1,38
Citation span2018 - 2025 (8)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 11
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