ABSTRACT
An increase in the number of professional workers has long been recognised as one of the characteristics of industrial society. Goode (1960, p. 902) says: ‘An industrialising society is a professionalising society.’ In all developed societies there are occupational groups enjoying or asserting certain claims to privilege - autonomy, a monopoly of a particular field of work, the right to control entry to the field of work and a high level of rewards. Because of the size and importance of these groups, defining and characterising what constitutes a profession has been a major sociological industry.
