CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Fourth International Conference
June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland
Professional Studies
Organisers: Arja Haapakorpi and Susan Eriksson
Erickson, Mark (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom) THE CULTURE OF
PROFESSIONAL SCIENTISTS
Max Weber's "Science as a Vocation' has long been
part of the canon of science studies. In this paper, the key analytical
categories that Weber uses to discuss scientific work are applied to some recent
field work research carried out with academic physics and biochemistry
researchers. The research, designed to investigate scientific communities, shows
that professional scientists maintain a high degree of commitment to science
through their understanding of science as a vocation. However, a number of
structural factors surrounding scientific workplaces may threaten this in the
future. Weber's methodological writings, including 'Science as a Vocation',
suggest that sociology proceeds by comparing complicated reality to ideal types.
One source of ideal types is Weber's own writings on science. Ironically,
contemporary scientists' motivations to being scientists conform almost exactly
to the ideal type proposed by Weber, suggesting a degree of continuity in the
project of science that is not matched by contemporary theories of the
production of scientific knowledge. If we use the ideal types provided by
contemporary sociology of science we will ignore key features of what it is to
be a scientist, and how it is that scientific knowledge is produced. This paper
proposes a consideration of cultural, structural and motivational factors in
appraising the production of scientific knowledge in contemporary society.
Eriksson, Susan (University of Tampere,
Finland) PROFESSIONAL
IDENTITY - DEPENDENCE ON KNOWLEDGE AND HIERARCHY
According to my studies concerning nurses in a hospital ward of heart diseases,
different kinds of theoretical preconditions of professional action often has
many social consequences to the professionals themselves. For example, they
constantly have to develop their knowledge and skills in order to be considered
as competent. These facts have important consequences in the workplace level: if
there are less educated groups working in the same organisation, the
professional usually takes advantage of their weaker position in favour of
constructing identity of a professional expert for themselves. The regulatory
norms and obligations in the organisation may as well be ethical in character.
Obeying them does not merely ensure the legal practice of the profession: the
norms may often be used as means of moral and ethical control over colleagues.
These kinds of constructions for social differentiation are actively utilized in
the daily basis. In conclusion, the equilibrium of professional hierarchies
seems an important means of maintaining the professional identity.
Di Luzio, Gaia (University of Göttingen, Germany) TRUST AS A CONCEPT OF THE
THEORY OF PROFESSIONS
Since the 1970s, trust has become a theme in studies
dealing with professional change, mostly suggesting a loss of trust on the side
of the client. Still, the importance of trust for professionalism and the impact
of changes in trust relations for professions has not been discussed
systematically. The paper tries to show what kinds of trust relations are
involved in which way in professionalism and what are the mechanisms of trust.
The aim is to come up with a proposition for interpreting the role of trust in
professional change. First, a summary of the various concepts of trust in the
theory of professions. Second, a discussion of the analyses of the
interrelatedness of trust and modern society. Third, an examination of the
extent to which trust relationships are a presupposition of professionalism. In
conclusion, the argument is put forward that changes in trust relations both
threaten and sustain professionalism.
Korhonen, Marja-Liisa (Nunavut Arctic College, Canada) COUNSELLING WITH
INUIT: THE EFFECTIVE HELPER IN A CULTUR IN TRANSITION
Inuit in the Canadian
Eastern Arctic (Nunavut) are an aboriginal people pulled into the modern world
only in the past 30 or so years. Social problems and personal issues are many,
and counselling is a profession new to the North. It is frequently asserted that
Western counselling strategies and values are inappropriate to work with
aboriginal clients, and certainly the popular and political will in Nunavut is
to develop culturally sensitive counselling practice. This paper explores
traditional Inuit helping strategies and values, and compares them to
contemporary Western methods, in order to draw conclusions about helpful
practice. The results may have useful implications for counsellor education and
practice with other cultural groups.
Allert, Tilman (Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany) THE
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE OF MIDWIFES - GUIDELINE FOR A THEORY OF SEMI-PROFESSIONS
The paper deals with the problem of professional practice and self-definition in
the semi-profession of midwifery. Due to the historical development in modern
societies with specific implications for the transformation of families on the
one hand and the secularization of christian topos of pain as a precondition of
morally acceptable life practice on the other hand, we find a new situation in
birth practice. The birth of a child is more and more transformed into a
calculable risk and is professionally more and more controlled by the medical
profession leading only a small population segment of "avandgardist"
milieu to continue traditional birth practice. This situation affects the
professional situation of the midwifes in various aspects. The paper, that has
been developed to start a research project on professional practice in birth as
a normal as well as critical life situation deals with aspects of this situation
and, using the guideline of Ulrich Oevermann`s theory of professions, works out
a theoretical perspective to get along with the complex triadic interaction
between medical profession, midwife and mother - a perspective that tries to
overcome the misleading notion of semi-profession that is analytically not
fruitful.
Haapakorpi, Arja (University of Helsinki, Finland) THE TRANSITION OF FINNISH
MUSEUM PROFESSION
The establishment of Finnish museum profession is traced to
1960's, which was the period of modernisation in Finland. The public sector was
expanded and the range of activities was widened. Professional status and
practices in museums were reinforced. The core of the professional work was
constructed on preservation and communication: the main work fields were focused
on managing collections, research and transmitting the history for the audience.
In 1990's, cultural transition in the public sector has been reshaping the
museum work. The new cultural characteristics are market orientation and the
principle of directly serving citizens; management by results has been an
official form of the transition. The goals of museums have been reshaped and,
consequently, professional work has been reconstructed. Work increasingly
consists of visible and interactive duties and working methods, whereas the
invisible core of museum work, research and managing collections, is weakening.
The new job-description is multi-skilled expert rather than specialised
professional.
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