Question

What characteristic(s) do you think best defines a profession? Why? What makes an occupation a profession? Should lawyers and medical doctors be used to determine what a profession is?

Which sociological theory of professions do you find most convincing? Why? Is a profession nothing more than a honorific title?

Answer 1

A profession requires someone to have higher education training, skill, and knowledge. A doctor, teacher, lawyer, accountant, engineer, pharmacist, consultants, etc. are the few examples of professionals.

Unless A doctor has the skill and knowledge about the field of healthcare he cannot be a good physician or a surgeon or a radiologist, etc. The teacher cannot guide his students unless he has the professional skill to look after the children and guide them in their academic career. In the same way, the lawyers, accountants, and the other professions required that person to know what he has studied and made use of it in everyday life as his profession. A professional can make his profession as his earning field like a doctor can earn by working in a hospital or as an independent physician looking after the health of the people, the teacher teaches the students' lawyer looking after the cases, and legal matters.

Occupation is the way one earns his living by doing a certain job.  The profession of a person can differ from his occupation for example if a teacher is an actor then his profession is teaching but his occupation is acting. The profession is one in which a person has done his higher studies have gained skills, take the training, and have knowledge about it but to earn he is acting thus his mode of earning for a living is acting that is his occupation, and teaching is his profession.
If a person has taken higher studies and become a physician and working in a hospital as a surgeon or a physician then his occupation and profession both are the same this makes his occupation his profession.

A lawyer and a doctor require higher education, skill, knowledge, and training and if they are working following what they have studied then these two professions can be used to determine the profession.
The doctors deal with human life and health and the lawyer deal with property and other matters that are related to life.
Both professions are different but can be taken to decide what a profession is. But at the same time if the profession of doctors and lawyers are only taken as an example to decide profession then one is doing injustice to the other professions like teaching, engineering pharmacist, etc.

2. There are three sociological theories of Professions: 1.Conflict, 2.Competition 3.and Cooperation. sociologists study social behavior and Society from the micro-level to the macro-level.

I find a sociological theory of cooperation as the most convincing because two and more people work together and contribute to the social functioning of society. As we know society is interdependent thus working together would benefit society. It helps society maintaining similar values and beliefs. The Government and the states help its population to get an education, healthcare facilities, transport facilities, etc and in return, the population pays taxes to the government. The cycle goes on which helps in producing stability and productivity. The society and the government have the common goal to achieve peace, harmony, better life facilities better profession and job availability to population thus the cooperation theory is the best to achieve the common goal of progress for the nation.

No, I don't think the profession is nothing more than an honorific title. The profession requires dedication, it allows earning better than the other occupation. A doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, teacher, and the people belonging to other professions do get respect from the common public, but they should work in honesty for the interest of the people, nation and be true to themselves.