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Summary: one of the best books in social science
Review: When academic writings in social science have largely become fastfood (i.e., you can finish a book in a few hours and then summarize it in 2-3 sentences), you can barely find a book that is both original and systematic to some substantial extent. Andrew Abbott's The System of Professions is an extraodinary exception. In this book, Abbott argues that each profession is bound to a set of tasks by ties of jurisdiction, the strengths and weaknesses of these ties being established in the processes of actual professional work. The central thesis of the book is that the professions make up an interdependent system, in which each profession has its activities under various kinds of jurisdiction. Jurisdictional boundaries are perpetually in dispute. Professions develop through competitions for jurisdictions over work. Abbott's focus on professional work and interaction is clearly an ecological perspective along the line of the famous Chicago tradition in sociology. If you are interested in knowing more about this tradition, another book by the same author - Department and Discipline - would be a good place to start from. As I said, you could not finish the book in one night without missing some really fascinating stuff. You'd probably also be amazed by the incredible coherence in Abbott's theory. For the sociology of professions, this book is both revolutionary and devastating - the field has been dead for more than 15 years since it was published in 1988!
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Summary: Something rare: a new idea
Review: When I was thinking about writing the history of a professional society, I was urged to do some reading on professions. It was discouraging. The authorities had been going in circles for years, until Abbott came along and clarified the topic. His book was well-received; as I recall he was a visiting professor in New Jersey before it was published, and a full professor at Chicago soon afterwards. Actually, there are several new ideas. One them is that professions restrict their markets when they attempt to raise their fees by adding barriers to entry. Since demand is stable or rising, this creates opportunity for other groups to move in "below." As physicians' time becomes ever more valuable, RNs achieve the status of practitioners and LPNs fill in. Aides are now certified, and so on. This seminal idea was published in 1988. Almost ten years later, Clayton Christensen described in his well-regarded Innovators' Dilemma how a corporate fixation on upselling existing customers assured that less lucrative markets would be neglected, providing rich opportunities for new entrants. The parallel is striking. Whether you have any interest in his topic, Abbott's exposition is worth studying as a model of effective rhetoric. And the writing is vivid; he worked for years in a large mental hospital, "After five years, . . . I had helped administer several tons of thorazine, mellaril and their cousins . . ."
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