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Text 2. Profession
In a more restrictive sense, profess ion often refers specifically to fields that require
extensive study and mastery of specialized knowledge, such as law, medicine, the military,
nursing, the clergy or engineering. In this sense, profession is contrasted with occupation,
which refers generally to the nature of a person's employment.
Terms such as occupational serve the purpose of upholding the distinction between
professionals and others who for their living are dependent on their work rather than on
their economic wealth. Such usage avoids the confusion caused by vague usage of the
words professional and professionalism to express prestige, approval or a sense of
exc lus ivity.
Sociologists have been known to define professionalism as s elf-defined power elit ism
or as organised exclusivity along guild lines, much in the sense that George Bernard Shaw
characterised all professions as "conspiracies against the laity". Sociological definitions of
professionalism involving checklists of perceived or claimed characteristics (altruism, self-
governance, es oteric knowledge, s pecial s kills, ethical behaviour, etc) became les s
fas hionable in the late 20th century.
The distinction between laypersons and professionals denotes the critical aspect of
more liberal definitions of a profession: being paid for the work. As such, ball players and
movie makers may be professionals, although their work does not fit the strict definition
offered above.
Historically, few professions existed: members of the clergy, medical doctors, and
lawyers held the monopoly on professional status and on professional education, with
military officers occasionally recognised as social equals. Self-governing bodies such as
guilds or colleges, backed by state-granted charters guaranteeing monopolies, limited access
to and behaviour within such professions.
With the rise of technology and occupational specialisation in the 19th century, other
bodies began to claim "professional" status: engineers, paramedics, educationalists and even
accountants, until today almost any occupational group can -- at least unofficially -- aspire
to professional rank and cachet, and popular recognition of this trend has made possible the
widespread recognition of prostitution as "the oldest profession".
In modern usage, professionals tend to have certain qualities in common. A profession
is always held by a person, and it is generally that person's way of generating income. A
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