20.1. Methodological aspects of medical profession
The state and the coming changes in the professional structure of society as well as people's attitudes to different skills and trades manifested in appraisals and social behavior constitute the subject matter of sociology of professions, which is closely related to sociology of labor in the study of common boundary problems such as occupational adaptation and the attitude of the employees to professional work, professional skills, and economics and organization of the enterprise where they work (G.V. Osipov, 1998).
Sociology of professions had been formed in the 20th century as an individual branch of the sociological knowledge with its specific subject field. It developed in close relations with such scientific branches as sociology of labor, industrial sociology, and sociology of education as well as general sociological theories of social structure, social stratification, and social mobility (Thompson J., Priestley J., 1998; Kryshtanovskaya O.V., 1991). The road to sociology of professions had been paved by such founding figures in the field of sociology as Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Werner Sombart, and Pitirim Sorokin. Sociology of professions was also examined in the works of Georg Simmel, Talcott Parsons, Pierre Bourdieu, et al.
The term 'profession' originated from Latin professio meaning 'declare my occupation. According to Collins Dictionary of Sociology (2005), professions are presented by the individual groups of middle class, characterized with occupation, practice, or vocation requiring mastery of technical skills, intellectual knowledge, and experience as well as with relations to the state service and certain independence in the matter of employment and labor discipline. The 'traditional' learned professions are exemplified by law, medicine, theology, and military forces.