In reading the literature lately, I've come across several definitions and evolutions of the term "profession," and have since conceded that based on those accepted defintions, a profession we are NOT.
First recorded use of the word profession was in mid-fifteenth century and was defined as a "learned vocation." Later, in 1977, profession was defined as a "controlling occupation which has a status of superiority and precedence within a division of work."
Rutty (1998) defined profession as:
"The knowledge accessible to a particular assembly of people, the conduct that is expected from this group and the power and authority the group has over its training and/or education which takes place over a recognizable period of time, along with state registration which permits entry to be prevented by others who do not correspond to the requirements, are attributes that collectively and commonly characterize professional status within the literature. These considerations provide the means for the profession to maintain dominance over the comtemporary work situation and to decide its conditions."
Seeing as we DON'T decide our conditions, DON'T have status of superiority and DON'T have control over our education, I have to ask...we don't even fit the definition of "profession," so are we really one?
