| Abstract: | This article, based on fifty‐one in‐depth interviews with paralegals working in private law firms, bridges the gap between sociologists' understanding of professions and professionalization and workers' subjective meaning of professional and professionalism. For paralegals to be professional, they must be both competent and capable of maintaining the proper demeanor, which includes their thoughts, behaviors, appearances, and emotions. Ironically, paralegals claim the title professional, or make claims to professionalism, to make themselves feel better about the unprofessional manner in which they are treated by attorneys; however, their assumptions about the meaning of professionalism undercut the likelihood that they will ever make collective demands for the professional treatment they seek. |
