âThe first ever analysis of professional classes, their differing job control and skill utilization. Professional employees especially face declining job control, diminishing use of skills and increasing barriers to continuing learning. Original guides for further studies on professional classes, job design, training.
This landmark study of professions in general and two of the most important professions â engineering and nursing â shows that the vast majority of these knowledge-workers really are employees under management supervision. The resulting under-utilization of their expertise is fueling mounting class antagonism. Farewell to illusions of a âprofessional-managerial classâ.â
â Paul S. Adler, Professor of Management and Organization, Sociology, and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California, author of The 99 Percent Economy, and Technology and the Future of Work
âLivingstoneâs formidable research experience on work, education and economic change is brought to bear on the growth of professions. He and his colleagues give us a radical new perspective. They offer convincing proof of deep class divisions within professional worlds. Itâs the kind of social science we need: carefully researched, deeply reasoned, and sharply relevant.â
â Raewyn Connell is Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney, author of The Good University and Southern Theory
âEssential reading for anyone interested in the future of work in the âknowledge economy.â The book explodes common myths about the power and autonomy of professional employees. Bringing class analysis back, the authorsâ documentation of professional proletarianization points to a new labor struggle protecting all workers and nourishing the collective intellect of 21st century societies.â
â Charles Derber, Professor of Sociology at Boston College, author of Professionals as Workers, Power in the Highest Degree, and Welcome to the Revolution
âThis is a novel and important book. It reframes the study of professions, placing professional and expert workers across the unequal ranks of the highly skilled labor force on which the knowledge economy depends. This unprecedented
â Magali Sarfatti Larson, Professor Emerita of Sociology, Temple University, author of The Rise of Professionalism