I appreciate that Carliner has reframed the
professionalization discussion. Instead of discussing the “external struggles”
involved in professionalizing the field, he examines the internal struggle and
divisions that “do not fall along the well-documented fault lines of
academe-industry relations.” Carliner’s central claim, that there is not a
unified view of professionalization for the field, and the spectrum of
viewpoints he posits has helped me widen my view of the professionalization process.
Carliner’s spectrum of views (formal professionalism, quasiprofessionalism,
and contraprofessionalization) are presented to define the tensions within the
industry but they are also informative of the “external struggles” he mentions
as well. If there is no consensus within a field about the professionalization
process, it will necessarily create external struggles because employers are
not bound to any standards of professionalization.
I agree with Carliner that the contraprofessionalist stance is
resisting and undermining professionalization because practitioners at that end
of the spectrum will take any jobs or work available according to the whims of
the marketplace. If that practice is allowed to perpetuate itself, the work of
standardizing training and certification and organizing an agreed-upon body of
knowledge becomes impossible. This undermines the branding of the profession as
well, as Carliner points out.
Perhaps I have unwittingly internalized the prevalent
free-market philosophies of our times because I cannot object to the
contraprofessionalist acting in a self-interested manner. After extensive
reading about the professionalization process, I value the effort and think it
is important for technical communication (and other fields), but, within our
current economic structure, I do not see how can the formal professionalist end
of the spectrum can truly control the movement.
I agree with your premise that Carliner widens the conversation of the professionalization process as a means to examine the internal struggles with professionalization. I found this analysis to be helpful in my understanding of the conversation. I appreciate you considering the economic realities of our time as well as each of our self interests as these are factors that seem impossible to ignore as we consider the spectrum of views regarding the professionalization of technical writers.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to ignore how popular what Carliner calls contraprofessionalism has become. Even formal education is being called into question, with self-study and a la carte online lessons being taken more seriously. How does a push for certification and licensing fare in such a world? When entrepreneurialism is the order of the day, it's hard to argue for formality.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about online lessons. STC offers many webinars. I wonder if this undermines the traditional educational process?
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