Profession is pat of the culture. A profession in the US, for example, affects and is affected by the US culture. The same thing is applicable to China or Russia among other countries/cultures.

It depends on how you define culture. Culture as a subset of civilization can make or break you professionally depending on the setting. In China or other countries with Confucian Heritage Cultures, individuals are boxed in a group mindset. Conformity and uniformity is desired over individuality and creativity. The situation is reversed in Western cultures such as the United States.

But there is corporate culture in the United States such that individuals are encouraged or required to conform to. For example, there is a culture of denial or silence when one is involved in unethical data dealing. And when you get caught red-handed you apologizing to safe face. Apart from folding to regroup under different names, unethical acts under corporate culture have never resulted in chapter eleven in any book. The only music one faces for failure to live up to unethical corporate culture is a day of bad press if you happen to be the CEO and resignation if you are just an employee.

Individuals of ethical and high moral values typically suffer personal burden for being forced to conform to a corporate culture of telling lies. In such cases, culture trumps professional rectitude

That depends on the context and what you understand by 'Culture'. Your profession definitely shapes your mindset and thus your decisions and creates a 'professional culture' which functions often across cultural borders. But whether that translates into you everyday and social life and thus culture or changes it, is less easy to determine. I would assume, only to a very limited extent. Most people can excellently compartmentalise their different roles. Meaning: being rational in your profession does not guarantee rationality in your private and social life.

Profession is pat of the culture. A profession in the US, for example, affects and is affected by the US culture. The same thing is applicable to China or Russia among other countries/cultures.

thanks for all your answers so far. I am however looking for a peer-reviewed publication on this topic. Does anyone have something up their slevee?

Yes, there is certainly such a thing as professional culture. And you conform to it not only nationally, but internationally, more or less (it is often defined by US professional culture, but differs in Europe and Asia; university and academic culture is more attuned). But as I said: this does not necessarily affect your private and social culture. Humans are extremely flexible in filling different, sometimes contradictory roles. Incidentally, that is also part of culture.

I'm not sure how one would arrive at a precise or quantifiable answer to that question, but most professions are subsets of culture and, as such, subordinate to the influence of culture. Moreover, we are influenced by culture long before we have a profession, when we are young and most impressionable, which again gives the advantage to culture in the shaping of one's mindset.

Quite true, Michael. The separation of profession and culture is not possible. Yet again, you can acquire different subsets of culture and belong to different cultures or culture circles simultaneously. That is meant by concentric and/or overlapping identities.

Philipp, I do not remember reading any document about this question, but you might try Karl Deutsch and Despres and: Dagmar Hellmann-Rajanayagam, Sascha Helbardt, and Rüdiger Korff), Isomorphism and De-coupling. Processes of external and internal legitimacy in Southeast

Asia , in: Sociologus 62, 2012,1, SS.25-46.

Individuals will choose their profession to suit their personality to meet their needs the most. But culture is a tool the man invented. To help humans continue to exist.

Thanks for all your answers. Maybe let me rephrase the question:

I am currently trying to understand some farmer behaviour I observed in a Sub-Saharan context.

Despite conducting their agricultural work in a way more mechanized and industrialized setting, I can find literature on similar behaviours among farmers in New Zealand as well as Europe. I now wonder to what extent I can infer findings from these culuturally very different spots into a subsistence farming setting.

I think you should notice the behavior of farmers from many countries and then find answers.

Please, see Eric Wolf's book on Europe and the People Without History and James C. Scott's work on Weapons of the Weak. They discuss farmers from comparative perspectives.

El-Sayed El-Aswad: Very good suggestion. I would ask further: in what way do the farmers you talk about show similar behaviours? And could these be derived not from 'culture', but from physical conditions, like the type of soil and/or grain they grow, the climate, water availability and so on. I am not an expert on agriculture at all, but these are the question coming to my mind.

Farmers are considered the pioneers of civilization. They started with hydraulic societies (Middle East, Asia-India) where rivers were/are available. Oases are also places in which farmers are active. Bedouins who live close to oases practice agriculture (not just herding animals). In addition to common economic activities shared by farmers there are differences between them (I mean from different regions/countries). Cultures, languages, religions and values are important in this matter (compare Indian farmers with Middle Easter farmers). Anthropologists suggest that farmers are smart in dealing with state power/government in dealing with heavy taxes imposed on them by states.

Henry Steele Commager averred that people are not only creatures of their culture, but even prisoners. That said, check out Jane Adams. 1993. Resistance to "Modernity": southern illinois farm women and the cult of domesticity. American Ethnologist: the journal of the american ethnological society. 20(1): 89-113, Also Edward Fischer has done interesting research on the cultural logics of broccoli farmers in Guatemala. Jack Glazier touched upon the same studying the Mbere of Kenya.

Lastly, I do not recall reading an article titled by that question.

David R. Smock. 1969. Cultural and Attitudinal Factors Affecting Agricultural Development in Eastern Nigeria. Economic Development and Cultural Change. 18(1): 110-124.

I think both impact differently and might produce a great bias in ways we see things and we proceed

You might also find some answers in institutional theory. Professions are considered as heavily influenced by cultural patterns but still resemble each over different cultural settings. Seminal work on this line of thought was brought out by Meyer/Rowan 1977, DiMaggio/Powell 1983. Further theory development then paid attention to different local implementations of global models (also profession-wise, called ‘translation’), c.f. Czarniawska 2008; Czarniawska/Joerges 1996; Sahlin-Andersson 1996) …

You may also link this with peasant ways of life in different cultural and social context. Eric Wolf and many others have made contributions in this area. In this case , I think farmers ways of life is more linked with their profession/occupation and the impact of global socio-economic forces rather than their mere culture per se.

I think this discussion is underpinned by an older (static) concept of culture as an entity of local community (place and people); in the wake of globalization, the idea of "profession" is culture in the making, so you need a more fluid and multiplex concept of culture when you look at how people in shared professional spheres constitute "communities" that transcend place, ethnic, and religious ties. Here material power and knowledge hegemony come into play as we think about "American" (of the white, middle class corporate America) practicaly defining a "professional culture" of the world.

Culture (of the white, middle class and so like) of a particular society is still very important in the field of profession notwithstanding the impact of globalization.

I don't think yo can separatte the two to say x is the influence of clutlrue cculturla and x2 is influence of professin. They are interrelatesd even as much as culture (which comes before profession) has influencesdone's decsion for profession, followed by one's profession influencing mindset and decision making along with culture. One can never get away from culture and its inf;uence on our thinking.

The profession culture would largely be determined by their need of professional development ,which may be rooted into the different cultual pattern.so I assume profession culture is a subcircle.

The final outcome is that culture (local, national, regional and global) has a great impact on profession (local, national, regional and global).

I think it is difficult and perhaps impossible to separate cultural aspects from a profession.

Thank you for this important question Dr. Philipp

Decision makers, in public institutions, can be influenced by a culture of common sense, rational institutional norms, and sometimes influenced by religious norms in some societies. But the decision maker in private institutions is often subject only to rational standards. You can review my Conflicted Rules Theory (CRT).