Transformation of ethical discourses of professionals (based on the example of doctors)

The article is a sociological analysis of the ethical discourses of professionals and their transformation. The essence and specificity of professional ethics are analyzed, the difference between professional ethics and labor ethics is revealed. A classification of ethical discourses of professionals is developed: traditional, “Protestant”, modernist, postmodernist. The transition from “classical” professionals to “free agents”, “multiprofessionals”, “quasiprofessionals”, “transprofessionals” is considered. An applied sociological study of the ethical discourse of modern doctors was conducted using the in-depth interview method. Based on the results of the study, the following trends were identified: inconsistency and plurality of ethics, dependence on “ethical fashion”, constant variability of ethical standards, professional “anti-ethics”. A conclusion is made about the absence of one hegemonic ethical discourse of professional doctors. We can observe several discourses simultaneously (for example, traditional, Protestant, modernist and postmodernist), which are either in a state of conflict or “sliding” coexistence.