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In a more restrictive sense, profession often refers specifically to fields that require extensive study and mastery of specialized knowledge, such as law, medicine, the military, nursing, the clergy or engineering. In this sense, profession is contrasted with occupation, which refers generally to the nature of a person's employment.
Terms such as occupational serve the purpose of upholding the distinction between professionals and others who for their living are dependent on their work rather than on their economic wealth. Such usage avoids the confusion caused by vague usage of the words professional and professionalism to express prestige, approval or a sense of exclusivity.
Sociologists have been known to define professionalism as self-defined power elitism or as organised exclusivity along guild lines, much in the sense that George Bernard Shaw characterised all professions as "conspiracies against the laity". Sociological definitions of professionalism involving checklists of perceived or claimed characteristics ( altruism, self-governance, esoteric knowledge, special skills, ethicalEthics is a general term for what is often described as the " science of morality". In philosophy, ethical behavior is that which is " good". The Western tradition of ethics is sometimes called moral philosophy . This is one of the three major branches of behaviour, etc) became less fashionable in the late 20th century.The distinction between laypersons and professionals denotes the critical aspect of more liberal definitions of a profession: being paid for the work. As such, ball players and movie makers may be professionals, although their work does not fit the strict definition offered above.
Historically, few professions existed: members of the clergy, medical doctorDoctor means teacher in Latin. It has been used continuously as an honored academic title for over a millennium in Europe, where it dates back to the rise of the university. This use spread to the Americas, former European colonies, and is now prevalent is, and lawyerA lawyer or attorney at law is a person licensed by the state to advise clients in legal matters and represent them in courts of law and other legal agencies. Most countries today require professional law advisors in their judicial systems. Lawyers have ms held the monopoly on professional statusStatus is a state, condition or situation. Status" often refers to social status. Status quo Establishment Conservative Status symbol. and on professional education, with military officerIn the military, a commissioned officer is a member of the service who derives authority directly from a sovereign power, and as such holds a commission from that power. Commissioned officers are authorized to use deadly force to carry out the lawful ordes occasionally recognised as social equals. Self-governing bodies such as guilds or colleges, backed by state-granted charters guaranteeing monopolies, limited access to and behaviour within such professions.
With the rise of technology and occupational specialisation in the 19th century, other bodies began to claim "professional" status: engineers, paramedics, educationalists and even accountants, until today almost any occupational group can -- at least unofficially -- aspire to professional rank and cachet, and popular recognition of this trend has made possible the widespread recognition of prostitution as "the oldest profession".