1.

What are different approaches to categorize professions and key

characteristics inherent to them?
- There are two approaches to categorize professions:
o Taxonomic Approach which lists the criteria which were applied to
profession. In this approach individual professions are then matched
up to the criteria and sorted into which matched up and which did
not. Professions within this approach were seen as possessing a
diverse range of characteristics differentiating them from other
occupations. These characteristics encompasses knowledge and
expertise as well as other such as playing a positive part in the
community. This approach gives due attention to the intrinsic value
of cultural goods, their potential to promote local or regional
development and the needs and the willingness of the local
community.
o The second approach is a process oriented approach. This approach
has two important aspects:
Internal dynamic this means that efforts of the practitioners
to raise their status, define services which they perceive only
thy can perform properly and to achieve and maintain
autonomy and influence. It refers to strategies that an
occupation uses to protect its private knowledge such as
regulating access to training programmes making claims
regarding the value of the service they provide, the
importance of this product/service to the larger community.
External dynamic this implies that relating professional and
organization and control to other institutional forces and
arrangements of power. This also means to what extent the
society gives you legitimacy as a profession and for the
society to give you some sort of legitimacy certain
institutional arrangements are required. When considering
the external dynamic, professionals must place an
occupational group in context & understand the forces that
influence its attempts to reach or maintain professional
status.

2. What is professionalization and corporatism?

Professionalization is the process through which the producers of special
services seek to constitute and control a market for their expertise and leads
to professionalism. It is a special means of organizing work & controlling
workers and in contrast to the hierarchical, bureaucratic & managerial
controls of organization. Professionalization implies the following:
o Shifting the control (Claiming space which has been occupied by
engineers and architects)
 o Lobbying your interest to groups with political powers, institutions
and people (general public)
o It is also a component of social arrangement

Corporatism is a process of interest mediation & policy negotiation which

occurs between interest organization and the state, crudely put is when many
interest organizations are invited by the state so that the organizations get
the status of professionals in return to comply with the decisions of the state.
There is an element of compliance mechanism.
3. What are the arguments for and against considering planning as a profession
and your position on it?
The arguments made for considering planning as a profession are:
o It possesses some form of organization for self-regulation
o It has well developed barriers to entry and
o the works and functions performed by planners are in the interest of
the public

The points raised against considering planning as a profession are:

o Other professions have agreed upon procedures and theories which
is not present for planning
o Planning does not have a coherent set or body of knowledge
o Professions must retain ultimate responsibility for their proposals
and planning as a profession does not and
o Planning is constrained by bureaucratic settings and hence lacks
the professional autonomy. For example a doctor does not need a
politician to give a diagnosis where as a planner might.
o There is a lack of widespread acceptance of planning as a
profession by the public.
Planning should be considered as a profession mainly because even if planning does
not have a defined set of knowledge like those of doctors and engineers which are
more established but planning now requires some level of educational expertise and
some sort of training which qualifies one as a planner. And this creates some level
of barrier to entry into the field of planning. A planner plays a key role in how the
places we live in are managed and developed and possess a variety of transferable
skills
Also because planning inherently is for the people and hence involves peoples
opinions and interests and is there to serve the larger community. The plans we
make, the policies we formulate and the mechanisms that take place are ultimately
for the betterment of the society in which people live. And currently through ITPI we
planners as a fraternity have certain level of self-regulation. The only drawback we
see is that the work we have done or the efforts we have made does not reap its
fruit very quickly because planning is a long term exercise and the by the time we
see the results; be it good or bad, it is too late.
Questions
1. How does environment planning differ from town planning?
2. What are the factors due to which planning fails as a profession?
3. What is the difference between the pronouncements of the professional
community of planning and the views of individual members?