The author analyzes the theory of the professionals' proletarianization with the objective of verifying to what extent it captures the real processes of change that have been affecting the professions. The central questions that the author addresses are whether professionals employed by public and private bureaucracies preserve their technical qualifications, and whether they preserve control over their highly specialized knowledge and over their work process. Using an extensive bibliography on professional work in several industries (metal, mechanic, electronic), the author concludes that the evidences of growing employment of some of the liberal professions does not constitute support for the thesis of the professionals' proletarianization when this term is appropriately understood. The research has shown that even when the professional employee loses the control over his work conditions, he keeps the control over his own work, that is, he conserves his technical autonomy.
professionals; proletarianization; deprofessionalization; technical autonomy
