Negotiating Professionalism

The Gendered Social Capital of Flexible Time

Bibliographic Data

ID2363100
AuthorsCarroll Seron (Baruch College, the City University of New York, corresponding author), Kerry O Ferris (University of California, Los Angeles), Kerry Ferris (0000-0002-3707-5618, University of California, Los Angeles)
Year1995
Volume22
Issue1
Pages22-47
Publication date1995-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWork and Occupations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0730-8884 • E-ISSN: 1552-8464
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0730888495022001002
OpenAlexW2147557108
LanguageEN
Citations received41
References cited35

Sociological research on the professions studies the public workplace and the ways in which task, organizational, and institutional arrangements of select occupations coalesce to secure expertise to work autonomously. The authors argue that a neat public/private divide does not, however, actually fit professional practice. Rather, the time demands of professional tasks are open-ended, and underscoring this practice, organizational policies do not compensate for extended professional hours. To ensure the viability of this task-organizational arrangement, professions require an institutional system of social capital or release from the time demands of private obligations. Using data about allocation of time from a study of self-employed professionals, the authors demonstrate the ways in which access to time is qualitatively different for men and women. In the conclusion, the authors discuss the ways in which an analysis of time provides an entry point for explaining the persistence of deeply gendered professional hierarchies

Economics · Management · Negotiation · Political science · Public relations · Social capital · Social science · Sociology · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Labor Movements and Unions · Management and Organizational Studies