There is recurrent public concern with enhancing the quality of professional performance. What is the con-temporary understanding of professionalism? Are the needs of professionals in various fields being met in today's world, as what is commonly called "continuing professional development" has become of a sizable industry? Many books treat the professions as a homo-geneous group and view them from an external stand-point. In Professional Practices Tony Becher investigates the differences as well as the similarities between and within professional groupings, and presents the perspec-tives of insiders. One particular theme concerns the main patterns of change in professional careers and the spe-cific problems faced by women professionals in a largely male-dominated environment. Brilliantly written, the book focuses on six professions-medicine, pharmacy, law, accountancy, architecture, and slructural engineering. The material is based on 190 interviews with a variety of members of the six professions. Becher's book offers original and sensitive insight into the working Ives of practitioners and an understanding of the ideas and values they embrace. He a'gjes that their high sense of commitment stems from a concern to enhance their individual reputations and to maintain their collective professional status. Becher highlights re variety of activities in which these professionals are engaged and the reasons for their reponses to social and political pressures from outside their fields. Above all, he seeks to demystify professionalism and to show that professional people share with others a wide range of universal human feelings and concerns. A postscript raises the issue of why -Diversities are little involved with continuing education in the professions. Practicing professionals will benefit from this insight into how people in their own and other professions cope with similar problems. Becher's volume will be particularly ap-pealing to educationists, policymakers, and social scientists interested in the subject of professionalism, those involved in the provision of initial and mid-career change for the orofessions, and those with a lay interest in the topic.

There is recurrent public concern with enhancing the quality of professional performance. What is the con-temporary understanding of professionalism? Are the needs of professionals in various fields being met in today's world, as what is commonly called "continuing professional development" has become of a sizable industry? Many books treat the professions as a homo-geneous group and view them from an external stand-point. In Professional Practices Tony Becher investigates the differences as well as the similarities between and within professional groupings, and presents the perspec-tives of insiders. One particular theme concerns the main patterns of change in professional careers and the spe-cific problems faced by women professionals in a largely male-dominated environment. Brilliantly written, the book focuses on six professions-medicine, pharmacy, law, accountancy, architecture, and slructural engineering. The material is based on 190 interviews with a variety of members of the six professions. Becher's book offers original and sensitive insight into the working Ives of practitioners and an understanding of the ideas and values they embrace. He a'gjes that their high sense of commitment stems from a concern to enhance their individual reputations and to maintain their collective professional status. Becher highlights re variety of activities in which these professionals are engaged and the reasons for their reponses to social and political pressures from outside their fields. Above all, he seeks to demystify professionalism and to show that professional people share with others a wide range of universal human feelings and concerns. A postscript raises the issue of why -Diversities are little involved with continuing education in the professions. Practicing professionals will benefit from this insight into how people in their own and other professions cope with similar problems. Becher's volume will be particularly ap-pealing to educationists, policymakers, and social scientists interested in the subject of professionalism, those involved in the provision of initial and mid-career change for the orofessions, and those with a lay interest in the topic.

Acclaim for the first edition of Academic Tribes and Territories: '...Becher's insistence upon in-depth analysis of the extant literature while reporting his own sustained research doubled the thickness of the material to be covered...Academic Tribes and Territories is a superb addition to the literature on higher education...There is here an education to be had.' (Burton R. Clark, Higher Education) '...Becher's landmark work. The higher education community - both practitioners and educational researchers - need to assimilate and to heed the message of this important and insightful book.' (Alan E. Bayer, Journal of Higher Education) 'a bold approach to a theory of academic relations...The result is a debt to him {Becher} for all students of higher education.' (The Times Educational Supplement) 'a classic in its field...The book is readily accessible to any member of the academic profession, but it also adds significantly to a specialist understanding of the internal life of higher education institutions in Britain and North America. I confidently predict that it will appear prominently on citation indices for many years.' (Gareth Williams, Studies in Higher Education) How do academics perceive themselves and colleagues in their own disciplines, and how do they rate those in other subjects? How closely related are their intellectual tasks and their ways of organizing their professional lives? What are the interconnections between academic cultures and the nature of disciplines? Academic Tribes and Territories maps academic knowledge and explores the diverse characteristics of those who inhabit and cultivate it. This second edition provides a thorough update to Tony Becher's classic text, first published in 1989, and incorporates research findings and new theoretical perspectives. Fundamental changes in the nature of higher education and in the academic's role are reviewed and their significance for academic cultures is assessed. This edition moves beyond the first edition's focus on elite universities and the research role to examine academic cultures in lower status institutions internationally and to place a new emphasis on issues of gender and ethnicity. This second edition successfully renews a classic in the field of higher education.