Professional Associations

A professional association is a body of a knowledge-based group, whose main concern is the promotion of technical standards (Torstendahl 1990). Anglo-American sociology of professions usually refers to professional associations as a sign of the maturity of a professional project (Carr-Saunders and Wilson 1933; Wilensky 1964; Larson 1979). Classic references from the sociology of professions identify the existence of stages of professionalization. Professional associations may thus be conceived as a stage of professionalization among others, like the creation of specific training or the existence of a licence law and of an ethical code (Wilensky 1964). Professional associations can also be understood as a strategy of an occupational group to strengthen its status, reducing conflicts among professionals and mobilizing resources (Selander 1990). This strategy usually tends to closure (Torstendahl 1990). In this sense, professional associations test the ability of members...