Managers and Professionals

Abstract

Previous chapters have explored the ways in which a period of industrial and social development led to the development of welfare states, and in particular health policies and services in a welfare context. This period of social development, or ‘modernity’, also witnessed the emergence of powerful occupational groups that came to be known as the ‘professions’. The transformations of nineteenth-century British society due to the development of industrial capitalism led to considerable upheaval in social structure. This resulted in what Perkin has termed ‘professional society’ (1989:2), whereby certain occupational groups were able to privilege themselves over other workers and achieve power, prestige and high economic reward. This chapter will first examine the meaning and significance of the professions, in particular the professions involved in the delivery of health care. A range of traditional and critical approaches to the professions and professional power will be examined. Second, the rise of professional power in the delivery of health care will be explored by reviewing the influential position of the medical profession since 1948. The chapter will provide an overview of the changes to the service that have had an impact on professional power following the implementation of the recommendations of the Griffiths Report.