When Employment Status Shapes Professionalism. The Case of the Academic Labour Market in Switzerland
Bataille, Pierre (Université Grenoble-Alpes)
Le Feuvre, Nicky (Université de Lausanne)
Sautier, Marie (Université de Lausanne)
Maestripieri, Lara, ed. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Imprint:	Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2023
Abstract:	In the classical sociology of professions literature, professionalism is said to exist when a group of workers achieve a monopoly over a given set of tasks, and determines the manner in which the latter should best be carried out. Within this task-based approach, the employment status of professionals is something that is rarely addressed. In this chapter, we argue that an employment-based perspective might be a potentially fruitful way of analysing professionalism. It offers the opportunity of moving beyond the study of occupational "boundary work", and of focusing on different forms of occupational segregation and segmentation. Based on the analysis of the recent changes within the Swiss higher education sector, we show how studying the employment conditions of academics in the early stages of their careers provides an original window on the differentiation processes that occur within professions. We argue that precarious employment conditions are associated with lower levels of identification with a task-based model of professional identity.
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Capítol de llibre ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Academic careers ; Employment conditions ; Occupational stratification ; Precarious labour ; Switzerland
Published in:	Professionalism and Social Change. Processes of Differentiation Within, Between and Beyond Professions, 2023, p. 39-58, ISBN 978-3-031-31278-6

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-31278-6_2

Available from: 2025-08-05 Post-print

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