How Are Professional Identities Constructed, Constrained and Sustained Within Normative

How are professional identities constructed, constrained and sustained within normative systems?

Abstract

This paper argues that Approved Mental Health Professionals’ professional identities are the product of social processes that are inherent in normative systems, such as the workplace. Identity work is fundamental for professionals; it gives feelings of affinity, a sense of who professionals are relative to who others are, alongside feelings of worth and professional coherence.

Several of the central ideas of social identity theory are relevant to the study of professionals. These are that social identify is a perception of oneness with a group and therefore individuals attain an identity through identifying with other people who are seen to be part of their group (defined as the ‘in-group’). Other groups (defined as ‘out-groups’) are equally as important as people are aware of them and compare their group with other groups in order to establish a positively valued distinctiveness between the two groups. There is also competition between ‘in-groups’ and ‘out-groups’, with the strength of a person’s affinity further affected by their beliefs about the distinctiveness of the groups values and practices in relation to those of comparable groups, and also within the status of the group. (Tajfel and Turner, 1986 & 2001).

Professional identity can further be defined by the social, political and economic circumstances in which a profession is set. This may be subject to change over time and is shaped by the interplay of power and privilege in professional roles and subject to conflict and tensions. Here the features of belonging to an ‘in-group’ afford professionals with lower status identities solidarity and support, which in turn strengthens the ‘in-group’ (Goffman, 1969). Goffman’s ideas are further developed by Gee’s (2013) view of ‘Institutional identity’, where Gee (2013) is concerned by what it means to be a ‘professional’ within an institution and what that position confers on the professional, and how it determines that professionals are subject to particular authorities.

I will explore how identity work is enabled or constrained by the contexts in which Approved Mental Health Professionals act, so that identity work comes to focus on ‘the place where people…both reproduce and resist larger social arrangements’ (Schwalbe and Mason- Schrock, 1996, p. 138-139). Concepts of ‘othering’ will be presented to analyze the ways that AMHPs are ‘othered’ by a more dominant group of doctors and how this reinforces the common conflicts and tensions AMHPs experienced as an ‘in-group’ in their professional practice. I then discuss how overarching ideologies in mental health privilege medical professionals and oppress AMHPs. Finally, I will problematize the context of a shifting mental health practice landscape that creates the contexts for ‘identity dilemmas’ and challenges to normative AMHP practices.

Caroline Leah

Lecturer in Applied Mental Health

University of Manchester

Room 1.1 Simon Building

Brunswick Street

Manchester

M13 9PL.