Unionization and Deprofessionalization: Which Comes First?

Abstract

This paper constitutes a review of the question whether unionization leads to deprofessionalization or whether deprofessionalization occurs first to be followed by union efforts to restore professional status to a profession under attack from social, political, and economic forces, including the bureaucracy. The evidence mustered from the historical literature appears to support the latter hypothesis, although it is questionable whether a union by itself can return an established profession to its original status prior to deprofessionalization.