Stadsplanering som professionellt verksamhetsfält : En studie av yrkesgrupper och deras arbete

Sammanfattning: The aim of this dissertation is to study how the relation between professions and their work is created, developed and reproduced at the interprofessional level. With reference to Andrew Abbott's theory of the system of professions, the relation is analyzed using a conceptual framework that entails three main concepts: professional structure, task area, and jurisdiction. The conceptual framework is articulated in a model, then applied to the historic development of urban planning in Sweden. The empirical analysis goes back to the seventeenth century. The results show that professional groups establish and maintain control of their work through jurisdictions, which are regarded as distributive channels of public acceptance, required by every profession. In other words, the interconnections between a profession and its work should not be recognized as direct and unconditioned. Furthermore, the study shows that professional action is dependent on the structure of the professional system of which it is a part. For instance, a multiprofessional structure is likely to first develop into a segmented structure before it turns into a uniprofessional one. This fact will sometimes restrict the freedom of action for professionals. The analytical model developed promotes a focus on interprofessional, rather than intraprofessional, social relations. Consequently, the professionalization processes of individual professions appear to be of less importance on the explanatory level. The dissertation also shows how contrafactual methods can be used in order to clarify factual outcomes in relation to analytically possible ones.