The sociologist: a profession without a community

ABSTRACT

The main focus of the Italian literature on the profession of the sociologist is the transmission of sociological knowledge and the occupational outcomes of sociology graduates. In my paper, I try to examine additional aspects in depth that I believe to be crucial for the development of the profession: the absence of a sociological community of interests, the weak forms of association not supporting sociologists working in non-academic settings with regards to interprofessional conflicts and a public presence that conveys and transmits the usefulness of the profession and the discipline. Sociologists rarely use the skills acquired through formal education to strengthen their position in the labour market through collective actions. Their effort to control the market of particular services is too weak. In the paper, I argue for the need to construct a community of interest that intends to include practitioners and academic sociologists in their entirety, independently from institutional membership and to promote sufficient control on the dynamics of supply and demand of professional services.

KEYWORDS:

• Applied sociology
• professionalisation project
• sociological community
• sociology of the professions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Remo Siza is an author of books on community planning (Manuale di progettazione sociale, 2018; Progettare nel sociale, 2003, 9th edition), on anti-poverty programmes (with Pete Alcock) and on the profession of sociologist (Le professioni del sociologo, 2006). He was General Director of a regional Department of Social Policy and has taught at the University of Bologna. He is currently a Senior Consultant and Adjunct Professor at University of Sassari (Department of Humanities and Social Sciences), and member of Social Policy Scientific Committee of Italian Association of Sociology.