Power and the Professions in Britain 1700-1850 - Hardcover

Corfield, Penelope J; Corfield, Penelope J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415097568 ISBN 13: 9780415097567

Publisher: Routledge, 1995

Synopsis

The modern professions have a long history that predates the development of formal institutions and examinations in the nineteenth century. Long before the Victorian era the emergent professions wielded power through their specialist knowledge and set up informal mechanisms of control and self-regulation.
Penelope Corfield devotes a chapter each to lawyers, clerics and doctors and makes reference to many other professionals - teachers, apothecaries, governesses, army officers and others. She shows how as the professions gained in power and influence, so they were challenged increasingly by satire and ridicule. Corfield's analysis of the rise of the professions during this period centres on a discussion of the philosophical questions arising from the complex relationship between power and knowledge.

About this title

Review:

"Corfield has added significantly to the literature of the professions."
-"Journal of Social History, spring 1997

Synopsis:

'The first large-scale, sustained, and comprehen- sive treatment of the professions in the 18th century...not simply pioneering but also readable and entertaining.' - F.M.L. Thompson, University of London

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0415097568
• ISBN 13: 9780415097567
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280