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Preferred term

professionalization  

Definition

  • Professionalization is the set of processes and strategies through which leaders in an occupation strive to obtain (and then maintain) professional status, authority, and privileges for occupational practitioners in a specific social-historical context. Because the term professionalization implies a trend toward a fixed end-point (full professional status), many scholars prefer the term professional project to emphasize that leaders may never achieve their ultimate goal; many professional projects fail. [Source: Sociology of Work: An Encyclopedia; Professionalization]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/professionalization

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