INTRODUCTION

The clerisy and the man (or woman) of letters were two possible roles for academics discussed in the nineteenth century, each implying different strategies and paths towards independence. A third career alternative, that of the professional academic, developed in connection with the Scottish universities and the first University of London and was achieved at Oxford and Cambridge after the period of reform. This alternative derived from guild (or to use A. H. Halsey's word, syndicat) traditions of institutional self-management characterised by control of the conditions of recruitment and training and domination of relevant markets. The history of the guild ideal runs parallel to the history of universities, and by the beginning of the present century professionalism became the singlemost important career model for university based professors and lecturers.

Once described as the ‘forgotten middle class’, professions have been the subject of intense interest in the last few decades primarily because of the transition undergone by modern societies from manufacturing to service. Fatigue arising from attempts to explain all historical change in the language of social class is another reason. The majority of scholars agree that there is no single model of professional development, that variations on the theme occur within nations as well as between them, nor is there any one professional occupation that serves as the archetype for all the others. In France and Germany the State has been the decisive influence in defining professions (in Germany academics have civil service status), in America it has been the university and in England the guilds of practitioners.