A Global History of the Sociology of Professions

The title of this book suggests two ways in which we hoped to have advanced knowledge in the sociology of the professions. On the hand, this is the first book to provide African scholarship with a more comprehensive discussion of the sociological study of the professions in Africa. On the other hand, in providing this contribution on the African social science’s treatment of the professions, the history of the sociology of professions is brought to full circle. In practice, this has involved making significant improvements to the theoretical and empirical framework for studying the dynamics of professional groups in contemporary African societies. African scholarship has only recently developed a sustained interest in researching a rigorous sociology of the professions. It is argued that an autonomous social science of the professions for contemporary African societies does not require a radically divergent sociology, but rather a dialogue that incorporates flexible composite of convergent and divergent thinking. Contemporary theoretical problems are not inherent in the sociology of the professions, but are the effect of historical anomalies in sociological theory per se.