The politics of professionalism: Consumers or citizens?

1 May 1990

journal article
research article
Published by Taylor & Francis in Leisure Studies

Vol. 9 (2) , 107-119
https://doi.org/10.1080/02614369000390101

Abstract

Professional status is not an inherent property of an occupational group but refers to a particular set of relationships with others. Current debates about the nascent ‘profession’ in public sector leisure services tend to operate with a restricted view of the ‘politics of professionalism’ and exaggerate the autonomy of proto-professional organizations. Professional status is determined by and determinate of the relationships between leisure service personnel, established local government professions, the political process and the general public. This article examines the nature of some of these relationships and in particular the increasing managerial emphasis on consumerism and the consumer and attempts to reassert the importance of the citizen.

Keywords

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