Control and Responsibility in the Powerful Professions

The "arrogance" and "elitism" of the academic profession, which trains and sets standards of self-control and responsibility for the other professions, have also recently been criticized. So widespread and recurrent is public protest against the irresponsible power of the professions that two sociologists have referred to "the revolt of the client" as a now endemic phenomenon in American society. The excessive power, the lack of satisfactory self-regulation, and the public irresponsibility of the professions is one of our new "social problems." Professional behavior is defined in terms of three essential and somewhat independent variables: powerful knowledge, self-control or autonomy, and public responsibility or direct service to the public and the public welfare. Social change is often hard to come by, and slow. Nonetheless, along with the widespread investigation and criticism of present control and responsibility processes in the powerful professions, there have been many moves toward reform and greater professionalism from both inside and outside the professions.