Full Description
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.
Contents
1. Introducing Professions and Metaphors (A. Liljegren and M. Saks) 2. Key Metaphors in the Sociology of Professions: Occupations as Hierarchies and Landscapes (A. Liljegren) 3. The Ecological Metaphor in the Sociology of Occupations and Professions (R. Dingwall) 4. Slaying the Minotaur: Reflections on the Sociology of the Professions (M. Saks) 5. Social Closure: On Metaphors, Professions and a Boa Constrictor (O. Agevall) 6. Regulating the English Health Professions: Zoos, Circuses or Safari Parks? (M. Saks) 7. Boundaries of Social Work or Social Work of Boundaries? (A. Abbott) 8. Gender and Law and the Metaphor of Justice-As-A-Woman: An Evolutionary Socio-Legal Perspective (V. Olgiati) 9. Engineering the Soul: Construction and Sacrifice in the Teaching Profession (L. Jin and M. Cortazzi) 10. Metaphors We Help By: Socio-Cognitive Patterns of Professionals in Social Work (R. Schmitt) 11. Metaphors in Medical Practice: A Jurisdictional Tool (I. Pedersen)
