Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2009
“Who's a Professional? Who Cares?” asked a prominent historian nearly a decade ago. In the essay that followed the answer was shrewdly crafted. Because so many Americans have cared to call their occupational activity professional, few have succeeded in bringing to the concept a consistent and coherent interpretation. When nearly everyone “cares,” from gamblers and killers to jet fighters and physicians, the question “who's a professional?” loses its seriousness of meaning. The criticism cut to the bone. It served to question the integrity of the historical field of inquiry. Ironically, if students of the professions can not find a coherent body of knowledge in the subject, a similarity of pattern, then they are using the concept falsely – that is, unprofessionally.
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