Book Review: A History of British Labour Law 1867-1945
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1177/096466390501400308 |
| Author | Hugh Collins |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
06 055692 Reviews (bc-s) 12/7/05 3:25 pm Page 437
BOOK REVIEWS
437
Despite forcefully heralding the decline of professionalism in his 1988 work, Abel
continues to apply a Weberian theoretical model to the professional and political
changes of the 1990s in an effort to demonstrate definitively that professionalism is
indeed in decline. This focus is both a strength and a slight weakness in the book. It
provides valuable detail of a tumultuous time in legal professional politics and offers
an important critique which engages with the declining power of the collective
profession, but necessarily pays less attention to the multiplicity of competing images
of professionalism across the fragmented workplace. This is not to suggest that Abel
ignores what is happening in the workplace. The book provides valuable information
about the concerns, anxieties and complaints of the wider profession. It is just that
this material is offered as an adjunct to the events in the collective arena. It would
have been interesting to see how Abel saw these developments leading to the
construction of a new theoretical model with which to conceptualize professional
power in the 21st century.
In his concluding chapter Abel begins to hint at the directions that such a theor-
etical model might take. For example, he argues that ‘whereas traditional professions
shielded individual practitioners from market forces by controlling entry, in the
future productive units will protect those temporarily sheltered within their walls’
(p. 477). Later he suggests that ‘professions elevate collective status at the expense of
individual material advantage by controlling production by producers; individual
lawyers enhance their own material advantage at the expense of collective status by
creating demand’ (p. 486). I would argue, therefore, that the professional project must
be re-conceptualized as having individual, rather than collective, avenues of advance-
ment with a diminishing significance for the traditional professional associations. The
wealth of material within Abel’s book provides a valuable foundation upon which
such theoretical frameworks can be constructed.
Disregarding these minor criticisms (which are little more than a desire to hear
more of Abel’s own voice) and some difficulties in following references, the book is
a major achievement. It is a unique piece of social, political and professional history
and will be indispensable for all interested in the sociology of the legal professions.
REFERENCES
Abel, R. (1988) The Legal Profession in England and Wales. Oxford: Blackwell.
Larson, M. (1992) The Rise of Professionalism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
ANDREW FRANCIS
Keele University, UK
DOUGLAS BRODIE, A History of British Labour Law 1867–1945. Oxford: Hart
Publishing, 2003, 266 pp., £35 (hbk).
The history of British labour law has received intense and detailed scholarly attention
in countless books. This new history does not offer new ‘facts’, but rather promises a
different interpretation of part of that history. The...
BOOK REVIEWS
437
Despite forcefully heralding the decline of professionalism in his 1988 work, Abel
continues to apply a Weberian theoretical model to the professional and political
changes of the 1990s in an effort to demonstrate definitively that professionalism is
indeed in decline. This focus is both a strength and a slight weakness in the book. It
provides valuable detail of a tumultuous time in legal professional politics and offers
an important critique which engages with the declining power of the collective
profession, but necessarily pays less attention to the multiplicity of competing images
of professionalism across the fragmented workplace. This is not to suggest that Abel
ignores what is happening in the workplace. The book provides valuable information
about the concerns, anxieties and complaints of the wider profession. It is just that
this material is offered as an adjunct to the events in the collective arena. It would
have been interesting to see how Abel saw these developments leading to the
construction of a new theoretical model with which to conceptualize professional
power in the 21st century.
In his concluding chapter Abel begins to hint at the directions that such a theor-
etical model might take. For example, he argues that ‘whereas traditional professions
shielded individual practitioners from market forces by controlling entry, in the
future productive units will protect those temporarily sheltered within their walls’
(p. 477). Later he suggests that ‘professions elevate collective status at the expense of
individual material advantage by controlling production by producers; individual
lawyers enhance their own material advantage at the expense of collective status by
creating demand’ (p. 486). I would argue, therefore, that the professional project must
be re-conceptualized as having individual, rather than collective, avenues of advance-
ment with a diminishing significance for the traditional professional associations. The
wealth of material within Abel’s book provides a valuable foundation upon which
such theoretical frameworks can be constructed.
Disregarding these minor criticisms (which are little more than a desire to hear
more of Abel’s own voice) and some difficulties in following references, the book is
a major achievement. It is a unique piece of social, political and professional history
and will be indispensable for all interested in the sociology of the legal professions.
REFERENCES
Abel, R. (1988) The Legal Profession in England and Wales. Oxford: Blackwell.
Larson, M. (1992) The Rise of Professionalism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
ANDREW FRANCIS
Keele University, UK
DOUGLAS BRODIE, A History of British Labour Law 1867–1945. Oxford: Hart
Publishing, 2003, 266 pp., £35 (hbk).
The history of British labour law has received intense and detailed scholarly attention
in countless books. This new history does not offer new ‘facts’, but rather promises a
different interpretation of part of that history. The...
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