“THE CULTURE OF PROFESSIONALISM” (book reference and book review url)
THE CULTURE OF PROFESSIONALISM
The Middle Class and the Development of Higher Education in America
By Burton Bledstein
W.W. Norton & Co., 354 pages, $12.95
below is from http://www.scottlondon.com/reviews/bledstein.html
As the subtitle suggests, this is a historical account of "The Middle Class and the Development of Higher Education in America," specifically during the second half of the nineteenth century. Although much of the book is given to an account of the radical changes that took place in higher education during the 1860s and 1870s, it shows how America’s modern culture of professionalism was born.Bledstein traces the roots of professionalism to the early part of the nineteenth century when America was developing a unique class-system. During this time, nearly everyone thought of himself as being of the middle class. Rejecting such European distinctions as an aristocracy and a proletariat, America needed some other justification for the observable and necessary differences among people. Professionalism was, according to Bledstein, the ingenious and distinctly American solution to this problem since it provided a justification for status based on merit rather than wealth or property. The new professionals found a way to dodge the whole issue of class by constructing a meritocracy — a social order based on competition and ability. Bledstein maintains that the United States, unlike other countries, has an exaggerated respect for the specialist because professionalism is the mainstay of our system of social stratification.
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