Avocat un jour, avocat toujours ?

Abstract

The authors are interested in bifurcations in an established profession : lawyers. Through a qualitative sociological investigation and in highlighting the elements char- acteristic of this profession, the article shows that changes in professional paths which might seem singular, in fact follow a social process involving three major stages : a re- nunciation of the profession and its attributes, a transition phase, of research, question- ing and a construction of meaning… and finally, a stage of investment, of engagement in a new profession. More particularly, in this dynamic of professional mobility, the authors turn their attention to the decision-making process leading to a passage to act (a change of profession), in a given context. In availing themselves of principal works on the question, this article increases our knowledge of the sociological implications of the commonplace expression “he took the leap !” and provides us a glimpse of cer- tain present-day transformations at work in the worlds of work. It explains why at a gi- ven time along their professional paths, people decide to leave an established profes- sion benefiting from a certain social prestige to reconvert themselves in a different so- cial field, with the risk of experiencing a social downgrading in an unfavourable em-ployment context.

Keywords

• mobility
• professional reconversion
• bifurcations
• lawyers
• professional identity
• downgrading