Political ideology and professional careers: A study of radical social service workers.
Item
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Title
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Political ideology and professional careers: A study of radical social service workers.
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Identifier
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AAI8820907
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identifier
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8820907
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Creator
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Wagner, David Harvey.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Michael Brown
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Date
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1988
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, General
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Abstract
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At a historical point in which middle class 'baby boomers' have generally been consigned to a 'yuppie' class, the following study explores the relationship between upward mobility, professionalization, and persistence of radical political ideology by intensively studying members of a leftist collective of human service workers. Through indepth interviews, textual analysis, and longitudinal data collection, the author follows a population of radicals over time to explore what constitutes a "radical career," whether radical political ideology is considered complementary with professional loyalty, and to what degree militant social action is constrained or encouraged by professional advancement.;The first part of the study presents data about how subjects came to define themselves as radical, embarked on professional careers, underwent professional training, and how after, considerable experience in professional careers, they now define their political ideology and its relationship with career interests and advancement. Early interest in human service professional careers and radical political ideology is closely linked, and an even closer association between radicalism and professionalism typifies subjects' experience with professional socialization. Experience in the job market, however, fragments "radical professionalism" with most subjects finding themselves critical of their training and the professions. Significantly, political socialization appeared more stable over time (from the 1960s to 1980s) than professional socialization, with a strong persistence of leftist ideological commitment on the part of subjects with a relatively weaker attachment to specific professions or careers over the years.;In the latter part of this study, subjects' attempts to implement radical actions at their workplaces or in the professions over the last decades are analyzed. In sharp contrast to the persistence of radical ideology, political activism appears constrained in the 1980s as radicals become absorbed in "labor market shelters" in which they tend to identify their political commitment with their employing agencies and, like the radicals of the 1930s and 1940s, have moved from anti-authority militancy to an 'absorbed' radicalism located in the mediating institutions of the state, trade unions, and the academy. The historical conditions for radical middle class movements are analyzed and explanatory theories are presented.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
