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.