Maintenance of Occupational Control

Abstract

Contemporary conditions relevant to the maintenance of occupational control are examined for five professions (accounting, architecture, civil engineering, law, and medicine) in the United Kingdom and the United States as an impetus for the analysis of control by occupations in general. Four areas in which conditions affecting occupational control are analyzed include: restriction of access to the occupation's knowledge base; context of professional employment; power and authority in the relationship of client and professional; and relationships between the profession and agencies of the state. Differences across countries and between professions are described, and notations are made regarding generalizability to a broader set of occupations.