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Profession

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{{unreferenced}} :''This is the article about work professions. For religious professions, see Profession (religious).'' A '''profession''' is an occupation that requires extensive training and the study and mastery of specialized knowledge, and usually has a professional body professional association, ethical code and process of professional certification certification or license licensing. Examples are accounting, law, medicine, finance, the military, the clergy and engineering. Classically, there were only three professions: ministry, medicine, and law. These three professions each hold to a specific code of ethics, and members are almost universally required to swear some form of oath to uphold those ethics, therefore "professing" to a higher standard of accountability. Each of these professions also provides and requires extensive training in the meaning, value, and importance of its particular oath in the practice of that profession. Sociologists have been known to define ''professionalism'' as self-defined power (sociology) power elitism or as organised exclusivity along guild lines, much in the sense that George Bernard Shaw characterised all professions as "conspiracies against the laity". Sociological definitions of professionalism involving checklists of perceived or claimed characteristics (altruism, self-governance, esoteric knowledge, special skills, ethical behavior, etc.) became less fashionable in the late 20th century. A member of a profession is termed a ''professional''. However, ''professional'' is also used for the acceptance of payment for an activity, in contrast to ''amateur''. A professional sportsperson, for example, is one who receives payment for participating in sport, but sport is not generally considered a profession.

History
Historically, the number of professions was limited: members of the clergy, medicine medical physician doctors, and lawyers held the monopoly on professional status and on professional education, with military commissioned officer officers occasionally recognised as social equals. Self-governing bodies such as ''guilds'' or ''colleges'', backed by state-granted charters guaranteeing monopoly monopolies, limited access to and behaviour within such professions. With the rise of technology and occupational specialisation in the 19th century, other bodies began to claim "professional" status: engineers,educationalists and even nurses, until today almost any occupational group can -- at least unofficially -- aspire to professional social rank rank and cachet, and popular recognition of this trend has made possible the widespread recognition of prostitution as "the oldest profession".

Common qualities of professions
In modern usage, professions tend to have certain qualities in common. A profession is always held by a person, and it is generally that person's way of generating income. Membership in the profession is usually restricted and regulated by a professional association. For example, lawyers regulate themselves through a bar association and restrict membership through licensing and accreditation of law schools. Hence, professions also typically have a great deal of autonomy, setting rules and enforcing discipline themselves. Professions are also generally exclusive, which means that laymen are either legally prohibited from or lack the wherewithal to practice the profession. For example, people are generally prohibited by law from practicing medicine without a license, and would likely be unable to practice well without the acquired skills of a physician. Professions also require rigorous training and schooling beyond a basic college degree. Lastly, because entrance into professions is so competitive, their members typically have above average mental skills. There is no standard definition of a modern professional, however. Beyond the classical examples (lawyers, doctors, etc.) there are many groups that claim status as a profession, and many who would dispute that status. For example, school teachers often refer to their occupation as a profession, even though it is not exclusive (people teach others outside of the traditional school environment), nor is entrance competitive, nor are they self-regulating (laypeople in state legislatures or on board of education boards of education typically set the rules for and regulate teachers). The process when trade unions or other bodies try to elevate an occupation to the level of profession is called '''professionilization'', and it's often an attempt to enhance one's position in the labour markets. The existence of a traceable historical record of notable members of the profession can serve as an indicator of a profession. Often, these historic professionals have become well known to laypersons outside the field, for example, Clarence Darrow (law) or Edward Jenner (medicine). In modern times, however, there is no standard definition.

See also
*List of occupations *Professional development *License *regulation category:occupations da:Profession de:Beruf es:ProfesiÃ³n eo:Profesio gl:ProfesiÃ³n he:×ž×§×¦×•×¢ li:Bereup nl:Beroep ja:è?·æ¥ no:Yrke pl:ZawÃ³d pt:ProfissÃ£o sl:Poklic fi:Professio sv:Yrke uk:ÐŸÑ€Ð¾Ñ„ÐµÑ?Ñ–Ñ? zh:è?·æ¥ see Category:Artisans

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