ABSTRACT
In order to extricate ourselves from the distorting consequences of the state/profession dualism, we must first rid our thinking of the concept of the state as a preconstituted, calculating subject. We must also develop a more balanced view of both the state and the professions as the structured outcomes of political objectives and governmental programmes rather than seeing them as either the constraining environments of action or the preconstituted agents of action. We can move further in this direction by considering the significance for our argument of the work of sociologists Larson (1977) and Abbott (1988), both of whom emphasize the processual nature of the social construction of expertise. Like Freidson, Larson and Abbott offer relatively sophisticated analyses of the professions, the former viewing professionalization as primarily the construction of a market in professional commodities or services; the latter identifying professionalism as a system of competitive occupational relations centring on jurisdictional claims and disputes.
