Rethinking the concept of professionalism

The Case of Journalism

Bibliographic Data

ID2139134
AuthorsMeryl Aldridge (University of Nottingham), Julia Evetts (University of Nottingham)
Year2003
Volume54
Issue4
Pages547-564
Publication date2003-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-4446.2003.00547.x
PMID14660258
OpenAlexW4242681298
LanguageEN
Citations received150
References cited33

Journalists in the UK have always been ambivalent about what form of occupational control to pursue. Although resistant to the structures of the conventional profession, they have embraced the idea of 'professionalism'. As the formations traditionally associated with Anglo-American professions become relevant to fewer and fewer employees and increasingly subject to external regulation it is more relevant, we suggest, to investigate how the discourse of 'professionalism' as a set of values and identities can be mobilized by employers as a form of self-discipline. Journalism, notable for its powerful occupational mythology, provides a vivid example of how this process has eased the imposition of radical changes to the organization of work. Now, ironically, recent changes in the occupation's social composition and training may mean that journalists, who have always cherished a self-image as socially marginal, will aspire to conventional professional respectability

Ambivalence · Art · Journalism · Literature · Media studies · Mythology · Political science · Public relations · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Subject (documents · Work (physics · Engineering · History · Labor Movements and Unions · Media Studies and Communication · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Psychology · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Research in Social Sciences · Social Psychology

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