ABSTRACT
Professionalization has served as a prism through which historians of imperial Russia in recent years have examined one of the central problems of prerevolutionary history: the relations of autonomy and dependence between an emerging civil society and the state. Professions are defined by sociologists as self-governing entities, controlling access into their fields and the standards of behavior of their members. In theory, then, professionals, like civil society, create new spheres of activity outside state control. Yet historians have found that the historical relationship between professionals and autonomy is far more complex than that predicted by sociological models. Even in the paradigmatic Anglo-American case, professionals looked to the state to bolster their authority. In Europe, including Russia, the state often played a fundamental role in the creation of professions, establishing the institutions that educated would-be professionals and providing them with employment within the bureaucracy. In such circumstances, the state might be seen by professionals at least as much as a force for liberalization and modernization as a source of interference in the development of professional autonomy.'
