Beschreibung
The rise of the professions is a ubiquitous feature of all
modern industrial societies, nowhere more so than in the
United States. But the historical investigation of the
creation of a credentialed society still leaves much to be
desired, particularly with regard to the social history of
the professions. The book analyzes the background,
experiences, and strategies of lawyers, physicians, and
engineers in Chicago between 1870 and 1920. Combining the
extensive analysis of data on thousands of professionals
with the examination of personal papers and professional
journals, the study reconstructs the contours of
professional lives in the bustling Midwestern metropolis.
As the professions struggled to cope with the integration of
a diverse membership and the effects of professional
specialization, they constructed occupational communities
marked by highly salient boundary lines. In creating a
fundamentally new type of occupation, backed by vocational
titles, expert knowledge, and state licensing, the American
professions played a central role in the evolution of
white-collar work in modern America.