Disorders in the professions

Is France “ sick of corporatism ? » This question posed in 2004 by the historians E. Kaplan and P. Minard has returned to the forefront of political and media news within the framework of the debates sparked by the Macron law on the reform of regulated professions aimed at “ release the activity “.

What is a regulated profession ? The report of the General Inspectorate of Finance which preceded the bill itself struggles to propose a definition, but recalls that these professions (around forty) are characterized by the existence of a monopoly of activity, of regulated tariffs, minimum qualification requirements, entry restrictions (numerus clausus for example) and a high level of profitability and revenue. Fifty years after the Armand-Rueff report which already castigated “ situations of sclerosis, Malthusianism or inadequacy (…) in the organization of certain professions », the idea that modernization and economic liberalization go hand in hand continues to be reaffirmed by public authorities, at national and European level. The rhetoric of privilege (of professionals “ well-off “) and anachronism (professions which are so many “ islands of resistance » to change), also contributes to stigmatizing a certain number of professions in the public space, at the forefront of which this year were taxis.

Liberalization, regulation or self-regulation of professions ? This file aims to shed new light on the debate, based on empirical investigations and theoretical reflections from various disciplines (mainly economics, sociology and political science). The problem is first of all that of definition. Like the term “ corporations “, the term “ regulated professions » in fact brings together, in its institutional version, very different actors and social groups (notaries, clerks, bailiffs, auctioneers, pharmacists, taxi drivers, plumbers, real estate agents, architects, etc.). Conversely, it obscures – at least in the use made of it by the various reports – other professions, themselves heterogeneous, such as doctors or lawyers. It also mixes situations where competition is weak or even non-existent, with others where it remains strong, despite the existence of regulations.

The term “ regulated professions » is also the subject of a political use which only partially overlaps with the categories of analysis used in the scientific field (body, (neo)corporatism, interest groups, pressure groups, lobbies, professions) and which are the subject of abundant literature in the social sciences (see box). However, behind this mosaic of terms and cases, a common issue emerges: that of the recomposition of professional worlds subject to economic, social and cultural disruptions, as evidenced by the numerous demonstrations of recent months.

In order to provide an outside perspective on the debates and mobilizations of the moment, the contributions in this file do not therefore repeat stricto sensu the institutional definition of regulated professions, whose arbitrary contours they highlight. This term has above all served as a basis for thinking more generally about the transformations which are going through the organization of certain professions in order to understand the “ disorders » of the moment. Despite the diversity of angles of analysis and tools used by each person, a consensus emerges to say that before being able to decide in favor of “ more “, of “ less » or “ others » regulations, it is necessary to analyze and put into socio-historical perspective the rules and values ​​which underlie each profession. The contributions gathered in this file thus aim to provide information on particular professional situations, to reorder the issues and points of view, and to propose concepts that are both analytical and practical, drawing either from history and economic theory, sociology of interest groups or the sociology of professions, in order to enlighten and guide the current debate.

Liberalize or regulate ? Camille Chaserant and Sophie Harnay open this file with a presentation and a critical discussion of the terms used in the debate around regulated professions in economics. They show that the injunction to liberalize regulated professions comes from a reductive use of the competition model “ pure and perfect » whose limits they state. By proposing a more detailed typology of professions which distinguishes in particular the types of goods provided, Camille Chaserant and Sophie Harnay show under what conditions the existence of regulations can be economically justified.

Taxis have received particular attention in this debate. Based on a field survey carried out among taxi drivers in the Paris region, Guillaume Lejeune enters a professional world under tension and analyzes the economic and sociological drivers of their mobilizations (the famous “ snail operations “). By reconstructing biographical trajectories, Guillaume Lejeune reveals the high degree of statutory fragmentation of the profession and its increasing precariousness, thus complicating the argument of “ preservation of acquired knowledge » as the only key to understanding these mobilizations.

Still in this perspective, Patrick Hassenteufel offers a socio-historical rereading of the defense of liberal medicine, directly targeted by the Touraine health bill. Although little concerned by the report of theIGF and the Macron law, this profession shares the characteristic features of many professions today classified as regulated. The author shows how, beyond economic interests and despite progressive questioning, a professional identity is maintained over the long term in an ambivalent relationship of opposition and cooperation with the State.

After the doctors, the lawyers. The review of the work of Christian Bessy, The organization of lawyers’ activities. Between monopoly and market (Dalloz, 2015) by Jean-Philippe Tonneau looks back on the transformations of the profession which has gradually moved from an artisanal logic to an entrepreneurial logic in a context of exacerbated competition, at national and European level.

Sociologists Florent Champy and Marc-Olivier Déplaude finally offer a general reflection on the tools available to the discipline to analyze this type of profession. Returning to the controversy between functionalists and interactionists, they show the difficulties of thinking about the conditions of professional practice in a global way and propose using the concept of “ practical wisdom » to overcome the impasses of the contemporary sociological and political debate on regulated professions.