| Abstract | dc.description.abstract | This essay looks into the meaning of today’s professionalism and the
apparent inconsistency between its growing status and a context of profound changes and
dissatisfaction with medical practice. The cultural climate of our times is reviewed, as the
framework for understanding changes in the social organization of medicine. One of the critical
traits of professions has been their power to manage specialized knowledge under their own
standards, without external control. The limits of this self regulation of expertise have faded,
representing an important threat for professionalism. Together with the fundamental changes and
tensions of work conditions for professionals, however, the appeal of professionalism is on the rise.
Because of its ability to submit devastating individualism to collective interests, professionalism
can contribute to the stability of social systems, as a third logic, between the market and public
organizations. In medicine, professionalism as a value based system and ideology, also emerges
as a response to the challenges posed to its practice. It represents reflection and preservation of
traditional values inspiring a practice of excellence, which will undoubtedly restore and enhance
public confidence in medicine. | en |
