The Changed Role and Position of Professionals in the Welfare State Across Europe

Abstract

Abstract This chapter offers a broad overview of the changing role and position of professionals in European welfare states, where successive reforms have made professionals’ jobs more diverse, dynamic, and demanding. The resulting multifaceted job of professionals goes beyond combining professional work and management tasks and includes at least three different roles—being an expert, a service provider, and a network partner. Simultaneously, with growing expectations, professionals’ authority and dominance have declined against a background of growing economic and social pressures. Overall, professionals can rely less on traditional status but increasingly need to convince clients, managers, politicians, and the wider public of their expertise and contribution. Within the limits of this brief chapter, current experiences of key professions in selected European countries are presented. The chapter discusses variations between professional groups due to diverse relationships with the state and differences between welfare state regimes.