Professional deformations in socionic professions

The article considers social factors of professional deformation in socionomic professions. This is an important sociological issue due to the risks of professional deformation for customers and social environment, thus, there is a need for a set of measures for the timely diagnostics and prevention of such deviations. The authors support the interpretation of the profession as an “institutionalized deviation”, and of the professional as a person licensed to deviate from the philistine behavior and thinking; consider professional deformation from the point of view of professionalization (institutional and personal) and combine psychological and sociological approaches. The combination of the neo-Weberian approach, secondary analysis and in-depth interviews allowed the authors to identify the following factors of professional deformation in socionomic professions: discrepancy of the individual concept and model of professional career; unproductive resolution of professional crises during professionalization; formation of the public image of the professional group, its ideology and ethics as opposing the idea of serving its own interests and getting professional privileges; creation of professional organizations (associations) with the features of social-professional disadaptation (for example, the syndrome of professional burnout); social closure of the professional community as a source of considering professionalism an instrument of access to privileges and double standards; increasing distance in the activities of the professional (professional ‘deafness’, sociolect for hiding the reported meanings); bureaucratization (regulation of professional activity contrary to the clients’ interests, best practices, and work schedule); value-role conflicts. These factors are ambivalent: on the one hand, they are signs of the institutionalization of the profession; on the other hand, they are indicators of social deformation.