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On Fri, 14 Aug 1998, Tania S. Smith wrote: > I now recall an acquaintance of mine calling > it "literary prostitution" as well. There's a terrible immoral connotation > in such metaphors that I'd rather not have anything to do with. I think > such judgments are not based on the type of work itself, but on its > relation to the context of university disciplines and established > professions, and the manner in which someone gets paid. > Tania, I also want to say that I apologize if my comments leaned this way. I think you are right and as Russ has noted, there is some (considerable) history here. In fact, historically speaking, it has only been recently (last 70 years or so?) that doctors have effectively jettisoned the same "moralistic" condemnations that you cite. Though, debates between traditional and alternative health care often starting heading off in this direction. Lawyers...well that is anyone's guess as readers of Bleak House will know (what do you call 100 Lawyers at the bottom of Lake Ontario? -- a start :) ) While this may be off Graham's original topic, a worthwhile question could be why a freelance writer needs to be concerned about "professional status" if you really aren't interested in moralistic arguments. Burton Bledstein argues that "professional status" rose at precisely the same time as the middle class, middle class morality, and middle class schooling. Thus, as a term it combines morality, economics, and labour. This could be why professionals can also act as "notary publics" for things like passports and why the notions of social status and self-regulation are more important for professional groups than entrepreneurs for example. When I argue that, currently, freelance writers have not organized themselves into professional status. I am not saying that they are immoral or anything of the sort. In fact, in some sectors (technical writers in the computer industry for example) specific writers are emerging as professional groups with self-regulation through STC, university degree requirements, regularized salaries, benefits, and varying degrees of social status. In addition, the NAFTA handbook used for US/Canada trade does certify "Technical Writer" as a profession if the worker has a B.A. in an associated discipline, can demonstrate membership in an association, has several years work experience, and has been offered a salaried position within a company. Oddly enough, we can thank B. Mulroney for this boost in Tech Writing's occupational currency! Someone whose employment is dependent on bidding within the market for hourly or project-based compensation is not considered a professional in an admittedly academic (social-science) definition. But the only sense of morality here is the intentional residue of the term's construction (ie. it was historically designed to create more power for middle class, educated people who didn't own land) or, Canada's long-held cultural suspicion of entrepreneurs (who are little too close to American capitalists!). Brenton --------------------------------------------------- Brenton D. Faber [log in to unmask] Assistant Professor Technical Communications [log in to unmask] Clarkson University Potsdam NY 13699