SPENCER,HERBERT AND THE PROFESSIONS - OCCUPATIONAL ECOLOGY RECONSIDERED

Herbert Spencer was the most influential Anglophone sociologist of the nineteenth century bur his contributions are now largely forgotten. I t is argued, however that the clarity of his understanding of the use of biological metaphors in sociology gives his work a power which is w orth rediscovering. This proposition is pursued through a discussion o f his treatment of the professions and their role in industrial societ ies. His approach is compared with the ''ecological'' perspective of s ociologists in the Chicago tradition, notably Andrew Abbott. It is sug gested that Spencer's work rests on an alternative interpretation of t he ecological model; this opens the way to an understanding of the reg ulative structures of ''the system of the profession,'' which fills a major gap in Abbott's account.