ABSTRACT
In a review of research on the sociology of work written two decades ago, commented that work on the professions was unusually dominant within the broader field of the sociology of work, and within that, 'theorizing dominates'. The centrality of intrinsic normative commitments and responsibilities was established in what Gorman and Sandefur call the 'Golden Age' of the sociology of professions, by Parsons and Merton who, following Durkheim, emphasised the socially integrative function of professions. The difference in emphasis between the terms 'knowledge' and 'expertise' has resisted easy resolution, and this is critical when it comes to professions. Schon's starting point is that professional work is about judgement under conditions of uncertainty and complexity of modern society. Bernstein's distinction between singulars, regions and fields of practice, together with that between his types of theoretical knowledge, are the basic building blocks for a theory of professional knowledge.
