Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The provision of legal services in the United States is strictly limited to licensed attorneys. Legislation and rules in every state impose penalties upon non-lawyers who engage in the unauthorized/unlicensed practice of law. There are an ever-growing number of licensed attorneys. However, there is a large segment of the population who cannot afford to secure the services of a licensed attorney. In comparison, the medical profession has addressed the public need for medical care by allowing for the creation, education, regulation and supervision of a variety of medical care professionals who are not licensed medical doctors and do not commit the unlicensed practice of medicine. It is time for the legal profession to consider adoption of a more expansive and accessible model of providing legal services to the public through the use of a variety of specially educated, regulated and supervised legal professionals.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Where do innovations in the social service and social welfare sectors come from? Once defined, what are some of the determinants of the supply of social services? This paper explores the role of social movements, segments of professions and policy entrepreneurs in the definition of social service products. The basic proposition is that social movements make a major contribution to the definition of needs and to the definition of categories of persons deserving services. They do so through several inter-related processes, direct and indirect. Directly, they define problems demanding organizational solutions. Indirectly, they contribute to the growth of new professional segments and the reorientation of professions already responsible or connected to specific social service delivery industries. They also influence the orientation of policy entrepreneur's who help shape the governmental and non-profit agenda.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Many occupational groups seek professional status. The process from occupation to profession has been studied as a series of steps or stages. Two are often implicitly linked: starting an association and publishing a journal, but a study of eight prominent associations documents that these are independent events. They struggled for years to gain control and ownership over their official journals. They either lacked sufficient resources or existing journals met their professional needs. When resources became available, the association’s legitimacy became the motive to establish a journal. They achieve this by launching, being given or buying a journal. With editorial control in their hands peer review became the norm for the journal’s content.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper considers advertising as a form of practical expertise, and interprets professionals’ actions as efforts to establish the authority of such knowledge. The context of post-socialist Eastern Europe, with socialist legacies as its distinguishing element, provides a new perspective on the global organization of markets and professions. In their project to fashion a new professional identity, socialist and post-socialist generations of Hungarian advertising professionals fight against each other to define relevant expertise. Multiple myths of the West are used by young ad experts to promote the profession’s independence from the market. Their attempts are undermined by the economic necessities of advertising that require cooperation with other market players. Brokerage of the West is challenged chiefly by the older generation’s resolute market discourse. Moreover, Hungary’s relative insignificance in the global market problematizes the ideal of the West, and provides space for locals to challenge the dominance of international agencies. Struggles over definitions of advertising expertise demonstrate the ongoing shifts in the relations of power within the profession.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Poetry is a career with no necessary institutional affiliation. Drawing from interview and ethnographic data this paper uses Abbot's work on jursidictions in the field of professions, and Stebbins analysis of the system of relations between amateurs and professionals to provide a better sociological understanding of poets. Seeing poetry as a 'calling' accepts too many of the romantic misrecognitions of the field and does not allow for adequate analysis. In addition, this paper proposes the concept of 'symbiotic careers' to better understand how artistic careers are interwoven with necessary work outside of the arts.