ABSTRACT
In Chapter 4, the opening chapter in Part II of the book, the authors move away from their analysis of macro-level and systemic changes and turn their attention to the ways in which professional training is undergoing change and how our very view of the classic professions is changing as well. This chapter’s primary purpose is to examine the devaluation of professional training and the concomitant decline in the status of expertise as the basis of professional authority. Patterns explored include the saturation of qualified PhDs in various fields, an undersupply of what had been referred to as “good jobs,” and the impact of overspecialization within specific fields.
