SOCIETY AND THE MEN OF PROFESSION
K.
RANGA RAO
Lecturer
in Sociology,
Two
of the chief characteristics of modern society are: the prevalence of
large-scale formal organisations and the
all-pervading influence of the state over the society. In view of the
increasing necessity to look after the welfare of all the citizens in the
country, the state is assuming more and more powers and consequently societal
operation is getting centralised more and more.
The
large-scale formal organisation with its pyramidal structure, strict hierarchy
of authority and rigidity of rules and regulation! develops
a bureaucratic structure of administration with all its demerits such as
officialdom, aggrandisement of the job, redtape etc. As against these evils of centralised
administration of a large scale organisation, in a democratic country,
devolution of powers to local bodies is suggested as a major remedy.
Accordingly in
However,
devolution of authority or decentralisation of
administration by itself will not do any thing substantially good until and
unless the same is followed by a proper recognition of the importance of a
professional person. In fact it would not be wrong to say that decentralisation of administration and professionalisation of occupations
are the two important remedies for the evils of the centralised-formal-bureaucratic
administration. It does not require much elaboration to explain the fact that
modern society, unlike the primitive, requires greater division of labour and a higher degree of specialisation
of functions. It is, therefore, necessary that jobs are filled with people having
special knowledge and skills. While devolution of authority minimises
the impersonal formalistic behaviour inherent in the centralised administrative set-up, besides ensuring local
participation, professionalisation helps to increase
the efficiency of the administration by reducing the evils of bureaucracy,
besides reducing the interference of the politician with the day-to-day working
of the administrator. It may not be far from the truth to say that the pitfalls
of the community development projects in rural India and the mal-functioning
and inefficiency of the various institutions–educational, medical, engineering,
scientific, cultural, social service and other public utility
services–are mainly due to non-, or less, recognition of, and increasing interference
with, the professional person’s job. In fact the great philosopher Whitehead
“so dreaded the extension of political controls that he urged increasing professionalisation as the most promising way to tighten
the sagging moral web of contemporary societies.” As observed by Robert A. Nisbet it is important to note that the modern social and
political thinkers appear to give more and more importance to the individual on
one side and the state on the other, keeping the social groups in between untouched.
In fact it is these groups that play an important role in the transmission of
the culture of the society from one generation to the other and also in
building up the character of the individual citizen. Nisbet,
therefore, ‘pleaded for giving more powers to these groups provided they are
guided by professionals.’ This obviously means that even though Nisbet favoured devolution of
authority, yet he gave more importance to the professional guidance for, he
believed that such a guidance by a professional would
ensure greater efficiency of service by an institution.
A
cursory glance at the modern society reveals the important fact that gradually
more and more occupations are being added to the four traditional professions,
viz., Law, Medicine, the Ministry and Teaching; the latest addition being
Social Work. Social service which was supposed to be anybody’s job has now
become a professional trained worker’s job. The main reason for such a change
is that the Social Worker, just as any other practising
professional person, has “a broader background of knowledge; the mastery of a
specific science or art demanding prolonged study before it can be competently
applied, and a relative independence in the performance of his function.” The
professional person, therefore, has direct interest in the advancement of his
science more than anything else. More often than not, each professional
association develops its own ethical code and lays stress on the quality and
social purpose of the service rendered. Apart from ensuring expert service to
the client, the professional person takes the financial reward or gain as
secondary or subordinate to the human or societal welfare. According to the
ethical code of the American Medical Association “A profession has for its
prime object the service it can render to humanity; reward or financial gain
should be a subordinate consideration.” It is in view of this function and
characteristic of a professional Dr. R. C. Angell in
his illuminating study Free Society and Moral Crisis
observed that “as more and more institutional groups come
under the influence of professionally traine persons
who feel responsibility for the society’s welfare, new organs of orderly change
can come into being.” Discussing the importance of moral norms in a society Dr.
Angell comes to the conclusion that the two main
inculcating processes of a society are the moral indoctrination of children and
the professionalisation of services. He says that the
professionals who “are going to fill roles in the society that are both
powerful and difficult to moniter are given ethical
training in the course of their education so that they will perform their
functions with due regard for society’s welfare.”
Such
being the crucial status of the professional person in modern society, he, as
an upholder of the social values and as one mainly devoted to societal welfare,
should guard himself against political and economic
interests. When a professional takes to active politics (or is influenced by
politicians) or gives more weightage to earning, then
he necessarily sacrifices societal welfare to selfishness. The political
interest or any such interest which is essentially outside the scope of his
profession prevents the professional or his association from pursuing the
declared objectives with all devotion and sincerity. In such a case the
professional would indulge in anti-social behaviour
doing a lot of damage to the society. The corrupt doctor would then perform an
illegal operation (e. g., helping abortion when the same is prohibited), the
lawyer would help his client to evade the law (e. g. helping one to evade the
income tax) and a social worker would encourage immoral or anti-social behaviour (e. g. visiting prostitutes instead of helping to
eradicate prostitution). Under these circumstances it is open to anybody to
conjecture anything about the conditions of such a society. It is, therefore,
the responsibility of the politicians, the professional associations and the
educational institutions to help promote sound professional training and
thereby devoted professional service. The politicians themselves should follow
an ethical code not to interfere with the professional and his field. The
professional association equally should try to divest itself of political
influence. The educational institutions, which again consist of professional
men (teachers), should endeavour to indoctrinate,
uninfluenced by other considerations, each candidate during the period of
training for a particular profession. But paradoxically enough the educationists,
scientists, and such other professionals basking in the sun of public administration
seem to have become enervated and to have forgotten professional standards of
devoted service. Here it has to be particularly noted that once the
educationists and the judiciary forget their professional duties it would
certainly become very difficult for any society to inculcate or uphold any
social and moral values.
Another word about the professional associations.
It is likely that under the pretext of maintenance and advancement of
professional standards, a professional association would try to maintain
professional secrecy and develop a private jargon of its own. This, no doubt,
is essential in the interest of scientific development. But if the same is carried
on to its logical end with a view to shut the ordinary public out of it and
thereby enhance its importance in the society, it would certainly be a step in
the wrong direction. It is true that by simply knowing certain fundamentals of
each profession everyone would not become eligible to practise
the same. But it is equally correct to say that making the ordinary citizen
acquire some knowledge regarding each profession and the service rendered by it
would go a long way in correcting and mending his day-to-day behaviour. Knowledge of the fundamentals of health,
nutrition, law, science etc., would certainly broaden the mental horizon of an
individual. This will also help reduce the burden of the professional to a
great extent for his advice and help will be sought regarding very important
matters only. Therefore any professional association interested in societal
welfare should make no attempt of keeping itself at a long distance from the
public. If a professional association were to be successful in extending its
knowledge to as many people as possible “it would thereby reduce to a minimum
the need for its therapeutic service while enlarging greatly its preventive
service.” After all, prevention is better than cure; and it is with this belief
and hope that we in our country have embarked on a large-sized programme of
extension services in each and every field. It is also certainly the purpose
and aim of the present day international technical cooperation missions.
Societal as well as human betterment today is greatly dependent upon the
fruitful collaboration between the professional and the non-professional,
particularly the politician.
Cannot
we save humanity from the threat of atomic war if the professional
scientist, in the interest of the welfare of humanity, ceases to collude with,
and bow down before, the politician?