Although there is growing evidence to show that public services support economic and social development and contribute to greater social integration, there is currently a major challenge to the continuing existence of public services. Over the last thirty years of reforms there has been an increased use of the term ‘professional’ but it is used in the context of improving practice and does not reflect an increased sense of respect for professionals. This makes public services a difficult and challenging environment for public professionals who want to work towards change and a more democratic way of operating both for themselves and for service users. This chapter develops a conceptual model of democratic professionalism which will provide a strategy to show how professionals can operate more democratically and inform the future of democratic public services. The subsequent chapters will show how action can be taken, using examples from across the world.

As outlined in Chapter 1, the development of democratic professionalism can be seen as a reaction to public sector reforms, but is also a process of challenging the traditional notion of a professional and the exercise of professional power, which has often been undertaken by the public professionals themselves. The position of professionals in public services is part of a dynamic process shaped by the professions as well as by other interest groups. How this process can be facilitated in future will help to answer the question of how to enact democracy within public services that secure the future Welfare State.

Professionals and the state

The position of public service professionals is often presented as a contrast to that of a professional operating within a market and selling services, such as financial or accounting services. Legal services operate within public justice systems, but many lawyers often sell their services in a marketplace. Public service professionals are most often employed by the provider of services, which today may be public, for-profit or not-for-profit organisations.

Much sociological research on professionals analyses the functions and identity of professionals emphasising how professionals often work in groups which seek to exclude others. In contrast, by adopting a political analysis and trying to place public professionals within a political system, they can be seen as potentially having the capacity to take (political) action.