Professionalism

From Rags to Riches, the Policing of Fashion and Identity: Governmentality and What Not To Wear

by Jessica Taylor

Co-authored with Sheri Gibbings. Published in vis-à-vis: Explorations in Anthropology. Vol 10, No 1, 2010.

Even the most casual perusal of television over the past ten years should reveal an increasing number of... more Even the most casual perusal of television over the past ten years should reveal an increasing number of self-improvement reality shows. This paper explores the Learning Channel (TLC) television show What Not to Wear (WNTW), which provides fashion advice to deviant dressers. We use Foucault's concept of governmentality to understand how WNTW engages women in their own projects of self-improvement in ways that are simultaneously disciplining and pleasing. Women who participate in the show are taught by the hosts, Stacy and Clinton, how to view themselves through the gaze of an imagined middle-class public. We suggest that WNTW tells us that outward appearances are the privileged site from which identities and self can be read. Even though the goal of the show is not to change identities, many of the women claim to experience a radical transformation. These transformations are often in the direction of a new professional and feminine identity, one maintained within the structure of the show by the continuing possibility and internalization of surveillance.

*Bowen's Court* and the Anglo-Irish World-System

by Matthew Eatough

Modern Language Quarterly 73.1 (March 2012)

Bowen’s Court has most commonly been confronted through methodological paradigms stressing its affinity to traditional... more Bowen’s Court has most commonly been confronted through methodological paradigms stressing its affinity to traditional Irish generic and historiographical conventions. In contrast, this essay reassesses Anglo-Ireland’s contribution to early twentieth-century literature by rereading Elizabeth Bowen’s text within the context of an international cultural and economic world-system. It argues that two historical narratives inform Bowen’s Court: a gothic chronicle of decline and a protoprofessional story of detached expertise. These narratives correspond to two visions of Anglo-Ireland’s transnational position, the first conceiving of the Protestant Ascendancy as neofeudal landlords who transform Irish labor into capitalist wealth, the second characterizing the Anglo-Irish as a cosmopolitan class of professional managers. By regarding these socioeconomic roles as affective dispositions between which her class vacillated, Bowen creates a cyclical history in which the deficiencies of gothic hysteria and detached professionalism supplement each other in a dialectical exchange. Understanding the socioeconomic circumstances underlying Bowen’s Court provides an important insight into how Bowen and fellow Anglo-Irish writers used affect to legitimate their class position after Irish independence, as well as how they were able to envision an Anglo-Irish renaissance.

Newell-Badley-caught-btwn-stories-iapche-01-27-2011

by Ted (Edward J.) Newell

Rebuilding legitimacy and police professionalism in an emerging democracy: The Slovenian experience

by Gorazd Mesko

In: Legitimacy and criminal justice: international perspectives
By Tom R. Tyler (2007)
Gorazd Meško & Goran Klemenčič

Cripped Heroes: A performance analysis of physically disabled professionals' persornal narratives

by Julie-Ann Scott

in press at Southern Communication Journal

Twenty-six self-defined physically disabled professionals’ open-ended personal narratives from a performance... more
Twenty-six self-defined physically disabled professionals’ open-ended personal narratives from a performance perspective highlight the cultural struggle over physically disabled professional identity.  Physically disabled professional identity materializes through the performance of four ‘hero’ characters engaging in ongoing social ‘battles’  that reference American and Judeo-Christian myths.  The heroes re-emerge across narratives as a means to negotiate the anxiety surrounding the physically disabled body performing within a cultural space that seeks to render the body irrelevant in its pursuit of cerebral reasoning and intellect.  Physically disabled professional ‘heroes,’ allow cultural members to reduce complex people into basic characters that avoid facing human mortality. Acknowledging culturally constituted heroes provides a means to potentially dismantle the stigma surrounding the physically disabled body in daily performance.

Attending to the disembodied character in research on professional narratives: How the performance analysis of physically disabled professionals' personal stories provides insight into the role of the body in narratives of professional identity

by Julie-Ann Scott

Published in Narrative Inquiry

This essay provides a rationale of how Performance Analysis and Narrative Positioning within research on Physically... more This essay provides a rationale of how Performance Analysis and Narrative Positioning within research on Physically Disabled Professionals' Personal Narratives can provide insight into the role of the body in the analysis of professional narratives. Through analyzing the participants' open-ended narratives as performances in which the narrators draw upon performativities to reconcile the absurdity associated with their deemed `unprofessional' bodies legitimately occupying a professional space, the author traces the emergence of embodied professional heroes in four variations: the Super Hero, Warrior Hero, Tragic Hero, and Rogue Hero, each which illuminates the importance of the body in the construction of personal narratives of professionalism. In conclusion, the author calls for attention to the potential performance of the Anti Hero across personal narratives that emerge in unmarked bodies in order to attend the underlying performativities and discourses of power within all narratives of professionalism.

Civicness in organizations: a reflection on the relationship between professionals and managers

by Taco Brandsen

Voluntas, 2009(20), 3, pp. 260-73

As they deliver services, organizations have to deal with conflicts over competing and sometimes irreconcilable... more As they deliver services, organizations have to deal with conflicts over competing and sometimes irreconcilable values, especially at a time when they are facing competitive pressure and diminishing resources. The civicness of organizations expresses itself in how they enable positive interaction over such conflicts between their members. This paper focuses specifically on the relationship between professionals and their managers. By infusing social behaviour with civil values, organizations can contribute to a wider culture of citizenship.

The Tension between Professional Control and Open Participation: Journalism and its Boundaries

by Seth Lewis

Lewis, S. C. (in press). The Tension between Professional Control and Open Participation: Journalism and its Boundaries. Information, Communication & Society. (Expected publication date: 2012)

Amid growing difficulties for professionals generally, media workers in particular are negotiating the increasingly... more Amid growing difficulties for professionals generally, media workers in particular are negotiating the increasingly contested boundary space between producer and user in the digital environment. This article, based on a review of the academic literature, explores that larger tension transforming the creative industries by extrapolating from the case of journalism—namely, the ongoing tension between professional control and open participation in the news process. Firstly, the sociology of professions, with its emphasis on boundary maintenance, is used to examine journalism as boundary work, profession, and ideology—each contributing to the formation of journalism’s professional logic of control over content. Secondly, by considering the affordances and cultures of digital technologies, the article articulates open participation and its ideology. Thirdly, and against this backdrop of ideological incompatibility, a review of empirical literature finds that journalists have struggled to reconcile this key tension, caught in the professional impulse toward one-way publishing control even as media become a multi-way network. Yet, emerging research also suggests the possibility of a hybrid logic of adaptability and openness—an ethic of participation—emerging to resolve this tension going forward. The article concludes by pointing to innovations in analytical frameworks and research methods that may shed new light on the producer–user tension in journalism.

Is it Time to Define Veterinary Professionalism?

by Liz Mossop

Veterinary professionalism, stress and work life balance

by Liz Mossop

Some Considerations on Integrity in Business

by Eric Brown

CIBG Working Paper

What Is Professionalism?—Reply

by Zackary Berger

Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(2):197.

Dr Finestone inquires whether the generation of the "Top 5" lists by the Good Stewardship working groups is... more Dr Finestone inquires whether the generation of the "Top 5" lists by the Good Stewardship working groups is better characterized as a subject of quality performance rather than professionalism. Our characterization of the effort as professionalism arises from the Physician Charter, in which the definition of professionalism rests, in part, on the principle of social justice. The charter ethically commits physicians to work toward "the wise and cost-effective management of limited clinical resources."1

The ethical principle of justice requires that everyone be treated fairly. Professionalism requires that resources be used wisely. Both assure that resources are allocated in the fairest and most effective manner. Making wise clinical decisions and being good stewards of clinical resources creates a health system that provides the best care to the most people.

CPS NEWS

by Erin Mason

О ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ И ЯЗЫКОВОЙ КОМПЕТЕНЦИИ В ЖУРНАЛЬНЫХ ПУБЛИКАЦИЯХ ПО КОГНИТИВНОЙ ЛИНГВИСТИКЕ

by Alexander Kravchenko

professions and the press DNCJ entry

by Andrew King

entry for the Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism, BL/ Academia, 2009

Basically an outline of what we don't know and how to go about researching this underexplored area Basically an outline of what we don't know and how to go about researching this underexplored area

The Fourth Estate in the USA and UK: Discourses of truth and power

by Jesse Hearns-Branaman

unpublished PhD thesis

This thesis examines the ways in which political journalists in the USA and UK talk about issues of truth and power as... more This thesis examines the ways in which political journalists in the USA and UK talk about issues of truth and power as it relates to journalism’s role as the Fourth Estate. The theoretical basis comes from a critique of the two major structures underpinning the Fourth Estate, that of epistemology (the study of truth) and ideology (broadly, the study of power and ideas). This involves unpacking and critically examining the ability of news media to convey ‘true’ information and the ideological formations in which the news media production practice is situated. The epistemological theories of Realism, Pragmatism, Antirealism and Hyperrealism will first be elucidated in an in-depth theoretical discussion, focusing on the contributions of Baudrillard. Four major theories of ideology, that of personal ideological bias, chaos, control, and ideology as fetishistic disavowal will be examined, this time focusing on the work of Žižek.
This theoretical discussion is complimented by an analysis of interview questions relating to epistemological concerns and to ideology. The empirical data consists of twenty interviews conducted with political correspondents in the USA and UK. A version of critical discourse analysis is used to examine the ways in which journalists talk about the issues raised by the questions, what is termed their ‘discursive strategies.’ The categories for analysis are grounded in the discursive strategies used by the journalists themselves, examined to elaborate not simply the explicit content, but the deeper implicit meanings inherent in the way they answer.
This provided both an original theoretical discussion and an original set of empirically-derived data. It also allows us to further understand the role of journalism as the Fourth Estate, the types of ‘truth’ it brings to us, the types of ideologies that underpin the news production process via news media professionals, and how the system is maintained despite its inherent contradictions.

Differences in medical students' explicit discourses of professionalism: acting, representing, becoming

by Lynn Monrouxe

From Journalism to Information: The Transformation of the Knight Foundation and News Innovation

by Seth Lewis

Lewis, S. C. (2012). From Journalism to Information: The Transformation of the Knight Foundation and News Innovation. Mass Communication & Society. (forthcoming)

Amid the digital disruption for journalism, the U.S.-based Knight Foundation has made a highly publicized effort to... more Amid the digital disruption for journalism, the U.S.-based Knight Foundation has made a highly publicized effort to shape the nature of news innovation. This growing influence raises questions about what it’s trying to accomplish, for mass communication and society. This qualitative case study shows how and why the Knight Foundation has sought to change journalism by renegotiating its boundaries. Namely, by downplaying its own historical emphasis on professionalism, the foundation has embraced openness to outside influence—e.g., the wisdom of the crowd, citizen participation, and a broader definition of “news.” These rhetorical adaptations have paralleled material changes in the foundation’s funding process, typified by the Knight News Challenge innovation contest. In recent times, the foundation has undergone a further evolution from “journalism” to “information.” By highlighting its boundary-spanning interest in promoting “information” for communities, the Knight Foundation has been able to expand its capital and influence as an agent of change among fields and funders beyond journalism.

Teather, J.L. "The Museum Culture-Keepers," International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship. London: Butterworths. (Spring), 327.

by Lynne Teather

Journalism Innovation and the Ethic of Participation: A Case Study of the Knight Foundation and its News Challenge

by Seth Lewis

Lewis, S. C. (2010). Journalism innovation and the ethic of participation: A case study of the knight foundation and its news challenge. Unpublished dissertation, Austin, TX: University of Texas.

The digitization of media has undermined much of the social authority and economic viability on which U.S. journalism... more The digitization of media has undermined much of the social authority and economic viability on which U.S. journalism relied during the 20th century. This disruption has also opened a central tension for the profession: how to reconcile the need for occupational control against growing opportunities for citizen participation. How that tension is navigated will affect the ultimate shape of the profession and its place in society.

This dissertation examines how the leading nonprofit actor in journalism, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has sought to help journalism innovate out of its professional crisis. This case study engages a series of mixed methods—including interviews, textual analysis, and secondary data analysis—to generate a holistic portrayal of how the Knight Foundation has attempted to transform itself and the journalism field in recent years, particularly through its signature Knight News Challenge innovation contest.

From a sociology of professions perspective, I found that the Knight Foundation altered the rhetorical and actual boundaries of journalism jurisdiction. Knight moved away from “journalism” and toward “information” as a way of seeking the wisdom of the crowd to solve journalism’s problems. This opening up of journalism’s boundaries created crucial space in which innovators, from inside and outside journalism, could step in and bring change to the field. In particular, these changes have allowed the concept of citizen participation, which resides at the periphery of mainstream newswork, to become embraced as an ethical norm and a founding doctrine of journalism innovation. The result of these efforts has been the emergence of a new rendering of journalism—one that straddles the professional-participatory tension by attempting to “ferry the values” of professional ideals even while embracing new practices more suited to a digital environment.

Ultimately, this case study matters for what it suggests about professions in turbulent times. Influential institutions can bring change to their professional fields by acting as boundary-spanning agents—stepping outside the traditional confines of their field, altering the rhetorical and structural borders of professional jurisdiction to invite external contribution and correction, and altogether creating the space and providing the capital for innovation to flourish.