Abstract
Historical research has shown that, at its inception, research ethics was conceived as distinct from existing discourses of professional ethics. Subsequently, this distinction has been maintained and, as a result, the discourse of research ethics appears to be an external to and independent of the practices it normatively analyses and comments upon. This chapter challenges these founding preconceptions and considers if research ethics can be understood as a professional ethics. Therefore, this chapter examines the criteria sociological research identifies as constitutive of a profession, and while one might conclude that research is obviously not formally instantiated as a profession, some of the sociological criteria have significant relevance. In this light it is argued that we might rethink the notion of research ethics in terms of a professional ethics. To do so would be to more clearly embed ethical discourse in the practice(s) of research, something that is consistent with the current turn to integrity.
References
Beauchamp TL, Childress JF (2009) Principles of biomedical ethics, 6th edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Collins HM (2010) Elective modernism. Unpublished Manuscript. Unpublished. http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/contactsandpeople/harrycollins/expertise-project/elective%20modernism%204.doc
Collins HM, Weinel M, Evans R (2010) The politics and policy of the third wave: new technologies and society. Crit Policy Stud 4(2):185–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2010.490642
Daston L, Galison P (2007) Objectivity. Zone Books, New York
Delanty G (1998) The idea of the University in the Global era: from knowledge as an end to the end of knowledge? Soc Epistemol 12(1):3–25
Emmerich N (2016a) Ethos, Eidos, habitus: a social theoretical contribution to morality and ethics. In: Brand C (ed) Dual process theories in moral psychology. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 275–300. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-12053-5_13
Emmerich N (2016b) Reframing research ethics: towards a professional ethics for the social sciences. Sociol Res Online 21(4):7
Emmerich N (2018a) Elective modernism and the politics of (bio)ethical expertise. In: Riesch H, Emmerich N, Wainwright S (eds) Philosophies and sociologies of bioethics. Springer, Dordrech, pp 23–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92738-1_2
Emmerich N (2018b) Chapter 11: From Phrónesis to Habitus: Synderesis and the practice(s) of ethics and social research. In: Virtue ethics in the conduct and governance of social science research. Advances in research ethics and integrity, vol 3. Emerald Group Publishing, Bingley, pp 197–217. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2398-601820180000003012
Evetts J (2003) The sociological analysis of professionalism: occupational change in the modern world. Int Sociol 18(2):395–415. https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580903018002005
Evetts J (2013) Professionalism: value and ideology. Curr Sociol 61(5–6):778–796
Freidson E (2001) Professionalism, the third logic: on the practice of knowledge. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Fuller S (2003) The university: a social technology for producing universal knowledge. Technol Soc 25(2):217–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-791X(03)00023-X
Hedgecoe A (2016) Reputational risk, academic freedom and research ethics review. Sociology 50(3):486–501. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038515590756
Kuhn TS (1996) The structure of scientific revolutions, 3rd edn. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
MacIntyre A (1981) After virtue: a study in moral theory. Duckworth, London
Tapper A, Millett S (2015) Revisiting the concept of a profession. In: Conscience, leadership and the problem of ‘dirty hands’. Emerald Group Publishing, pp 1–18
Millett S (2016) How should the concept of a profession be understood, and is the notion of a practice helpful in understanding it? In: Contemporary issues in applied and professional ethics, vol 15. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp 29–40. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-209620160000015002
Minogue KR (1973) The concept of a university. New Brunswick, USA. Transaction Publishers
Reuben JA (1996) The making of the modern university: intellectual transformation and the marginalization of morality. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Riesch H, Emmerich N, Wainwright S (2018) Introduction: crossing the divides. In: Riesch H, Emmerich N, Wainwright S (eds) Philosophies and sociologies of bioethics. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92738-1_1
Schrag ZM (2010) Ethical imperialism: institutional review boards and the social sciences, 1965–2009. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Schrag ZM (2014) What is this thing called research? In: Glenn Cohen I, Fernandez Lynch H (eds) Human subjects research regulation: perspectives on the future. Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press. p 285
Shapin S (2008) The scientific life: a moral history of a late modern vocation. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Stark L (2011) Behind closed doors: IRBs and the making of ethical research. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Strong PM (1983) The rivals: an essay on the sociological trades. In: Dingwall R, Lewis P (eds) The sociology of the professions. Macmillan, London
Wellmon C (2015) Organizing enlightenment: information overload and the invention of the modern research university. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Wueste DE (1994) Introduction. In: Professional ethics and social responsibility. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham
Wueste DE (2013) Trust me, I’m a professional: exploring the conditions and implications of trust for the professions. In: Ethics, values and civil society. Emerald Group Publishing, pp 1–12
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Emmerich, N. (2019). A Professional Ethics for Researchers?. In: Iphofen, R. (eds) Handbook of Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76040-7_34-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76040-7_34-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76040-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76040-7
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities