A Comparative Study Of Archival Professional Specialization In China And The United States From The Perspective Of Occupational Sociology

According to the occupation professionalization theory,profession is a concept with rich historical and cultural connotation,distinguished from occupation because of its intensive knowledge.Professionalization is regarded as an ongoing process in which the occupation seeks to achieve professional status by continuously acquiring the characteristics.Relevant studies show that the archival occupation in China has completed the process of occupationization since its emergence,but there is still a considerable gap from achieving professional status.In contrast,the archival occupation in the United States is more professional.A comparative study of the degree of professionalization of the archival occupation in China and the United States with reference to the archival occupation in the United States is beneficial to evaluate the degree of professionalization of the archival profession in China and will promote the professional development of the archival occupation in China.Through literature analysis and questionnaires,the thesis compares social service,intellectual monopoly,educational longevity,professional self-regulation,status legitimacy and power autonomy of the archival occupation in China and the United States under the guidance of the index system of professional specialization.The results show that the archival occupation in both countries still has a long way to go from the“profession” form defined by the sociology of professions,especially the archival occupation in China,where the effect of social functions and services is affected by various factors,among which the unsound policies of opening archival resources forms a great contrast with that of the United States.The archival occupation in China differs greatly from that in the United States in terms of professionalism,stability,the number of full-time staffs,and the mastery of basic skills.The recognition of the scale of archival tertiary education in China is higher than that in the United States,but the cultivation of practical skills has long been neglected.The superficial and rough construction of professional ethics norms brings difficulties to the development of ethics education.Archival scholars have various opinions on the direction of the archival occupation,and the autonomy of the archival occupation in terms of the collection,opening,and researching and publishing of object resources is insignificant compared to relevant industries.In view of the above problems,the author summarizes the inspiration of the American archival occupation to the archival occupation in China from national,academic and occupational levels,and puts forward corresponding suggestions for the better professional development of the archival occupation in China in the future.