Abstract
A professional career and its associated social position is well recognized as a key element of an individual’s life chances. Being a professional confers privileges including income, status and esteem. Professional occupations are an important path to social mobility, rewarding a strategy of hard work rather than good luck or unique talent. Qualified professionals might be described as having made a choice and achieved success, as enjoying working lives free of the boredom, toil and occupational danger that characterise less exalted occupations and having skills that protect them in the labour market.
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© 2010 Tanya Castleman and Rosslyn Reed
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Castleman, T., Reed, R. (2010). Fortunate Lives: Professional Careers, Social Position and Life Choices. In: Blyton, P., Blunsdon, B., Reed, K., Dastmalchian, A. (eds) Ways of Living. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230273993_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230273993_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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