Skip to main content

Evolving Professions: An Institutional Field Approach

  • Chapter
Organisation und Profession

Part of the book series: Organisation und Gesellschaft ((OUG))

Abstract

Our conceptions of professions vary as a function of two conditions. They are influenced, first, by changes in the composition, structure and behavior of those occupations that we identify by this label; and, second, they are affected by changes in the theoretical lenses we bring to bear on these occupations. I thus embrace a post-positivist conception in which all our scientific analyses involve some combination of elements selected from the “empirical environment” of observations and other combinations of elements that we and our colleagues collectively create in the “metaphysical environment” of assumptions and theoretical models (Alexander 1982). All our conclusions, findings, and scientific “truths” are admixtures of these empirical and metaphysical elements.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Abbott, Andrew (1988): The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aharoni, Yair (1999): Internationalization of Professional Services. In: Brock, David M./ Powell, Michael J./ Hinings, C.R. (eds.): Restructuring the Professional Organization: Accounting, Health Care and Law. London: Routledge, pp. 20–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, Jeffrey C. (1982): Theoretical Logic in Sociology, Vol. 1: Positivism, Presuppositions, and Current Controversies. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alford, Robert R. (1975): Health Care Politics: Ideological and Interest Group Barriers to Reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Medical Association, Committee for the Study of Relations between Osteopathy and Medicine (1953): Report: Journal of the American Medical Association 152(8).

    Google Scholar 

  • Barley, Stephen R./ Kunda, Gideon (Forthcoming): Gurus, Guns, and Warm Bodies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, Howard S. (1953): The Teacher in the Authority System of the Public School. In: Journal of Educational Sociology 27, pp. 128–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, Peter M./ Scott, W. Richard (2003 [1962]): Formal Organizations: A Comparative Approach. Chandler: San Francisco. Reprinted: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bledstein, Burton J. (1976): The Culture of Professionalism: The Middle Class and the Development of Higher Education in America. New York: W.W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brint, Steven (1994): In the Age of Experts: The Changing Role of Professionals in Politics and Public Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunsson, Nils/ Jacobsson, Bengt and Associates (2000): A World of Standards. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr-Saunders, Alexander M./ Wilson, P. A. (1933). THE PROFESSIONS. Oxford: Clarendon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corwin, Ronald G. (1961): The Professional Employee: A Study of Conflict in Nursing Roles. In: American Journal of Sociology 66, pp. 604–615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahrendorf, Ralf (1959): Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Gerald F./ Diekmann, Kristina A./ Tinsley, Catherine H. (1994): The Decline and Fall of the Conglomerate Firm in the 1980s: The Deinstitutionalization of an Organizational Form. In: American Sociological Review 59, pp. 547–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Gerald F./ McAdam, Doug/ Scott, W. Richard/ Zald, Mayer (eds.) (2004): Social Movements and Organization Theory. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Kingsley/ Moore, Wilbert (1945): Some Principles of Stratification. In: American Sociological Review 10, pp. 242–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Derber, Charles (1982): Professionals as Workers. Boston: G.K. Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, Paul J. (1991): Constructing an Organizational Field as a Professional Project: U.S. Art Museums, 1920–1940. In: Powell, Walter W./ DiMaggio, Paul J. (eds.): The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 267–292.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, Paul J./ Powell, Walter W. (1983): The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. In: American Sociological Review 48, pp. 147–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzioni, Amitai (1969): The Semi-Professions and their Organizations. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Field, Mark G. (1967): Soviet Socialized Medicine: An Introduction. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freidson, Eliot (1970): Profession of Medicine: A Study of the Sociology of Applied Knowledge. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freidson, Eliot (1986): Professional Powers: A Study of the Institutionalization of Formal Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freidson, Eliot (2001): Professionalism: The Third Logic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, Anthony (1979): Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, Structure, and Contradiction in Social Analysis. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goode, William J. (1957): Community within a Community: The Professions. In: American Sociological Review 22, pp. 194–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, Robert A./ Howell, James E. (1959): Higher Education for Business. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gouldner, Alvin W. (1954): Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gouldner, Alvin W. (1957–58): Cosmopolitans and Locals: Toward an Analysis of Latent Social Roles, I, II. In: Administrative Science Quarterly 2, pp. 281–306; 444–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Ernest (1957): The Attributes of a Profession. In: Social Work 2, pp. 45–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Royston/ Hinings, Christopher R. (1993): Understanding Strategic Change: The Contribution of Archetypes. In: Academy of Management Journal 36, pp. 1052–1081.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Royston/ Hinings, Christopher R. (1996): Understanding radical organizational change: Bringing Together the Old and the New Institutionalism. In: Academy of Management Review 21, pp. 1022–1054.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Royston/ Hinings, Christopher R./ Brown, J. (1990): ‚P2-form‛ Strategic Management: Corporate Practices in the Accounting Industry. In: Academy of Management Journal 33, pp. 725–755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Royston/ Hinings, Christopher R./ Cooper, David (forthcoming): An institutional theory of change: Contextual and interpretive dynamics in the accounting industry. In: Powell, Walter W./ Jones, Daniel (eds.): How Institutions Change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Royston/ Suddaby, Roy/ Hinings, Christopher R. (2002): Theorizing Change: The Role of Professional Associations in the Transformation of Institutionalized Fields. In: Academy of Management Journal 45, pp. 58–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, Richard H. (1968): Professionalization and Bureaucratization. In: American Sociological Review 33, pp. 92–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Havighurst, Clark C. (1982): Deregulating the Health Care Industry: Planning for Competition. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickson, David J./ Hinings, Christopher R./ Lee, C.A./ Schneck, R.E./ Pennings, J.M. (1971): A ‚Strategic Contingencies‛ Theory of Intraorganizational Power. In: Administrative Science Quarterly 16, pp. 216–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinings, Christopher R./ Greenwood, Royston/ Cooper, David (1999): The Dynamics of Change in Large Accounting Firms. In: Brock, David M./ Powell, Michael J./ Hinings, Christopher R. (eds.): Restructuring the Professional Organization: Accounting, Health Care and Law. London: Routledge, pp. 131–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, Andrew W. (1997): From Heresy to Dogma: An Institutional History of Corporate Environmentalism. San Francisco: New Lexington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, Andrew W./ Ventresca, Marc J. (eds.) (2002): Organizations, Policy, and the Natural Environment: Institutional and Strategic Perspectives. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holm, Petter (1995): The Dynamics of Institutionalization: Transformation Processes in Norwegian Fisheries. In: Administrative Science Quarterly 40, pp. 398–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, Everett C. (1958): Men and their Work. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Institut für Freie Berufe an der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (1993): Freie Berufe in Europa. Bonn: Freie Berufe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, John A. (ed.) (1970): Professions and Professionalization. London: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Anthony (1991): Preface. In: Jones, Anthony (ed.): Professions and the State: Expertise and Autonomy in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, pp. vii–vix.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krause, Elliot A. (1977): Power and Illness: The Political Sociology of Health and Medical Care. New York: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krause, Elliot A. (1991): Professions and the State in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe: Theoretical Issues. In: Jones, Anthony (ed.): Professions and the State: Expertise and Autonomy in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, pp. 3–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson, Margali Sarfatti (1977): The Rise of Professionalism: A Sociological Analysis. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, Thomas H. (1951): The Recent History of Professionalism in Relation to Social Structure and Social Policy. In: Marshall, Thomas H.: Citizenship and Social Class. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 128–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, Charles E. (1991): The German Experience of Professionalization: Modern Learned Professions and their Organization from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Hitler Era. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, John W. (1994): Rationalized Environments. In: Institutional Environments and Organizations: Structural Complexity and Individualism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 28–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millerson, Geoffrey (1964): The Qualifying Associations: A Study of Professionalization. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintzberg, Henry (1979): The Structuring of Organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery, Kathleen (1990): A Prospective Look at the Specialty of Medical Management. In: Work and Occupations 17, pp. 178–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, Talcott (1954): Essays in Sociological Theory. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perrucci, Robert/ Gerstl, Joel E. (1969): Profession without Community: Engineers in American Society. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, Jeffrey (1992): Managing with Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell, Walter W./ Jones, Daniel L. (eds.) (2004): How Institutions Change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, James C. (1999): The Corporate Practice of Medicine: Competition and Innovation in Health Care. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruef, Martin/ Scott, W. Richard (1998): A Multidimensional Model of Organizational Legitimacy: Hospital Survival in Changing Institutional Environments. In: Administrative Science Quarterly 43, pp. 877–904.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlossman, S./ Sedlak, M./ Wechsler, H. (1987): The ‚New Look‛: The Ford Foundation and the Revolution in Business Education. In: Selections 14(3), pp. 8–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard (1965): Reactions to Supervision in a Heteronomous Professional Organization. In: Administrative Science Quarterly 10, pp. 65–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard (1969): Professional Employees in a Bureaucratic Structure: Social Work. In: Etzioni, Amitai (ed.): The Semi-Professions and their Organization. New York: Free Press, pp. 82–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard (1982): Managing Professional Work: Three Models of Control for Health Organizations. In: Health Services Research 17, pp. 213–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard (1985): Conflicting Levels of Rationality: Regulators, Managers, and Professionals in the Medical Care Sector. Journal of Health Administration Education 3(2), Part II, pp. 113–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard (1994): Conceptualizing Organizational Fields: Linking Organizations and Societal Systems. In: Derlien, Hans-Ulrich/ Gerhardt, Uta/ Scharpf, Fritz W. (eds.): Systemrationalität und Partialinteresse. Baden-Baden: Nomos, pp. 203–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard (2001): Institutions and Organizations(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard (2003a): The Old Order Changeth: The Evolving World of Health Care Organizations. In: Mick, Stephen S./ Wyttenbach, Mindy E. (eds.): Advances in Health Care Organization Theory. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, pp. 23–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard (2003b): Organizations: Rational, Natural and Open Systems. Upper Saddle, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard/ Backman, Elaine V. (1990): Institutional Theory and the Medical Care Sector. In: Mick, Stephen S. (ed.): Innovations in Health Care Delivery: Insights for Organization Theory. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 20–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard/ Mendel, Peter J./ Pollack, Seth (2005): Environments and Fields: Studying the Evolution of a Field of Medical Care Organizations. In: Powell, Walter W./ Jones, Daniel L. (eds.): How Institutions Change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. Richard/ Ruef, Martin/ Mendel, Peter J./ Caronna, Carol A. (2000): Institutional Change and Healthcare Organizations: From Professional Dominance to Managed Care. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, John R. (1995): The Construction of Social Reality. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starr, Paul (1982): The Social Transformation of American Medicine. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suddaby, Roy/ Greenwood, Royston (2003): Rhetorical Strategies of Legitimacy: Vocabularies of Motive and New Organizational Forms. Paper presented at the Academy of Management Meetings, Seattle, WA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornton, Patricia H. (2002): The Rise of the Corporation in a Craft Industry: Conflict and Conformity in Institutional Logics. In: Academy of Management Journal 45, pp. 81–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westphal, James D./ Gulati, Ranjay/ Shortell, Stephen M. (1997): Customization or Conformity? An Institutional and Network Perspective on the Content and Consequences of TQM Adoption. In: Administrative Science Quarterly 42, pp. 366–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Thomas Klatetzki Veronika Tacke

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2005 VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Scott, W.R. (2005). Evolving Professions: An Institutional Field Approach. In: Klatetzki, T., Tacke, V. (eds) Organisation und Profession. Organisation und Gesellschaft. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-80570-6_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-80570-6_5

  • Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-531-14257-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-322-80570-6

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Science (German Language)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics