Professions and Metaphors

Understanding professions in society

Andreas Liljegren, Mike Saks

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781317371977
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Professions and Metaphors: Understanding Professions in Society explores the way that two traditions have contributed to our understanding of both theory and society over recent decades. In the first tradition, the growing literature on metaphors has helped to guide thinking, providing insights into such phenomena as the study of organizations. In the second, there has been an increased interest in professions, from lawyers and university academics to doctors and social workers.

This edited collection brings together these two traditions for the first time, providing a unique and systematic overview, at macro and micro level, of the use of metaphors in the sociology of professions. A range of professional fields are explored, from law and medicine to social work and teaching, showing how metaphors can enhance our understanding of the operation of professional groups.

By demonstrating how metaphors can add to our understanding of professions in society, as well as in professional practice, this ground-breaking book makes an invaluable contribution to advanced students and researchers in fields such as the sociology of professions and work and organization – as well as informing professionals and policy makers themselves.

‘This timely and engaging contribution extends the metaphor approach, which has been used to great effect in economics, law and organizational theory, to the study of professional occupations. The results are extremely insightful as this book, through the visual power of metaphors, casts new light on a series of key debates within the sociology of the professions.’

Daniel Muzio, Professor of Professions and Organization, University of Newcastle, UK

‘Liljegren and Saks are to be congratulated in bringing together a fine edited collection of new and published pieces on the role of metaphors in understanding professions. This novel focus should appeal to those interested in the professions generally and in particular professions such as medicine, education and social work.’

Jonathan Gabe, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

Professions and Metaphors

Professions and Metaphors: Understanding Professions in Society explores the way that two traditions have contributed to our understanding of both theory and society over recent decades. In the first tradition, the growing literature on metaphors has helped to guide thinking, providing insights into such phenomena as the study of organizations. In the second, there has been an increased interest in professions, from lawyers and university academics to doctors and social workers.

This edited collection brings together these two traditions for the first time, providing a unique and systematic overview, at macro and micro level, of the use of metaphors in the sociology of professions. A range of professional fields are explored, from law and medicine to social work and teaching, showing how metaphors can enhance our understanding of the operation of professional groups.

By demonstrating how metaphors can add to our understanding of professions in society, as well as in professional practice, this ground-breaking book makes an invaluable contribution to advanced students and researchers in fields such as the sociology of professions and work and organization – as well as informing professionals and policy makers themselves.

Andreas Liljegren is Associate Professor in Social Work in the Department of Social Work at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Mike Saks is Research Professor in Health Policy at University Campus Suffolk, UK, and holds Visiting Chairs at the University of Lincoln, UK, the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, UK, and the University of Toronto, Canada.

Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations and Society

This series presents innovative work grounded in new realities, addressing issues crucial to an understanding of the contemporary world. This is the world of organized societies, where boundaries between formal and informal, public and private, local and global organizations have been displaced or have vanished, along with other nineteenth century dichotomies and oppositions. Management, apart from becoming a specialized profession for a growing number of people, is an everyday activity for most members of modern societies.

Similarly, at the level of enquiry, culture and technology, and literature and economics, can no longer be conceived as isolated intellectual fields; conventional canons and established mainstreams are contested.Management, Organizations and Society addresses these contemporary dynamics of transformation in a manner that transcends disciplinary boundaries, with books that will appeal to researchers, student and practitioners alike.

Recent titles in this series include:

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Organizations and the Media

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Professions and Metaphors

Understanding professions in society

Edited by Andreas Liljegren and Mike Saks

First published 2017

by Routledge

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and by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2017 selection and editorial material, Andreas Liljegren and Mike Saks; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 978-1-138-94418-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-67204-5 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781315672045

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Contents

• Notes on contributors
• Permissions
• 1 Introducing professions and metaphors ANDREAS LILJEGREN AND MIKE SAKS
• 2 Key metaphors in the sociology of professions: occupations as hierarchies and landscapes ANDREAS LILJEGREN
• 3 The ecological metaphor in the sociology of occupations and professions ROBERT DINGWALL
• 4 Slaying the Minotaur: reflections on the sociology of professions MIKE SAKS
• 5 Social closure: on metaphors, professions and a boa constrictor OLA AGEVALL
• 6 Regulating the English health professions: zoos, circuses or safari parks? MIKE SAKS
• 7 Boundaries of social work or social work of boundaries? ANDREW ABBOTT
• 8 Gender in law and the metaphor of Justice-as-a-Woman: an evolutionary socio-legal perspective VITTORIO OLGIATI
• 9 Engineering the soul: construction and sacrifice in the teaching profession LIXIAN JIN AND MARTIN CORTAZZI
• 10 Metaphors we help by: socio-cognitive patterns of professionals in social work RUDOLF SCHMITT
• 11 Metaphors in medical practice: a jurisdictional tool INGE KRYGER PEDERSEN
• Index

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Frontmatter 1
• Half Title Page
• Frontmatter 2
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Notes on contributors
• Permissions
• 1 Introducing professions and metaphors—ANDREAS LILJEGREN AND MIKE SAKS
• 2 Key metaphors in the sociology of professions: occupations as hierarchies and landscapes—ANDREAS LILJEGREN
• 3 The ecological metaphor in the sociology of occupations and professions—ROBERT DINGWALL
• 4 Slaying the Minotaur: reflections on the sociology of professions—MIKE SAKS
• 5 Social closure: on metaphors, professions and a boa constrictor—OLA AGEVALL
• 6 Regulating the English health professions: zoos, circuses or safari parks?—MIKE SAKS
• 7 Boundaries of social work or social work of boundaries?—ANDREW ABBOTT
• 8 Gender in law and the metaphor of Justice-as-a-Woman: an evolutionary socio-legal perspective—VITTORIO OLGIATI
• 9 Engineering the soul: construction and sacrifice in the teaching profession—LIXIAN JIN AND MARTIN CORTAZZI
• 10 Metaphors we help by: socio-cognitive patterns of professionals in social work—RUDOLF SCHMITT
• 11 Metaphors in medical practice: a jurisdictional tool—INGE KRYGER PEDERSEN
• Index