Professional Autonomy and the Revolt of the Client

One of the normative characteristics of a profession is autonomy, the right to determine work activity on the basis of professional judgment. This activity increasingly occurs in a bureaucratic context, with the professional sharing in organizational authority. The public grant of autonomy has presumably been based on recognition of two other characteristics of a profession—store of esoteric knowledge and service orientation. Various publics may be viewed as presently questioning these claims to special knowledge and the humanitarian ethos, and challenging institutional delivery systems, either because they are inadequate or because they exceed appropriate bounds. Among middle-class groups, students deny the pedagogic expertise and good will of their educators, while demanding a redefinition of administration and faculty organizational power. Among poverty groups, clients, claiming to know more about community needs and problems than the professional social workers and to be more concerned, are organizing for a voice in welfare benefits and their distribution. Among blacks, the demand for power confronts the professional teacher, social worker, and public official. The thrust of the client revolt is against the delivery systems for knowledge application, as controlled by the professionals, and against the encroachment of professional authority into areas unrelated to their claimed expertise. Professionals have sought to preserve their institutional power and autonomy by coopting their challengers. The "new careers" movement, poverty programs and other forms of dealing with the revolt of the client are discussed from the perspective of cooptation, and implications for modifications in professional autonomy are reviewed.