Organizational Psychology

Professions are one of the mass forms of labor (or rather, human labor activity) — they change historically. They are not historically the last and final, complete, harmonious form. Their descriptions in Russian psychology, transmitting the characteristics of labor given by K. Marx, do not allow usto single out their qualitative certainty as a fragment of social reality. Purpose. The purpose of the study: to study the features of a profession as one of the forms of human labor activity, as a historicallyevolving phenomenon. Methodology. Hypotheses: 1. Forms and types of human labor activity changehistorically, which “crystallize” in a few stable forms. 2. There are many different manifestations of formsand types of human labor activity, which are always culturally conditioned. 3. Complex, multifacetedsocial phenomena (labor, profession, career, etc.) can be adequately presented by means of coordinatedsystems of their description. Object of the study: the phenomena of “labor” and “profession”. Subject ofthe study: forms of human labor activity. Methods: subject-categorical analysis, historical-evolutionaryanalysis, empirical research. The article analyzes the features of the established practice of describinglabor and professions in domestic psychology, which generally represent an extensive approach.Findings. It is proposed to distinguish three hierarchical components of the phenomenon — profession,specialty, workplace — as ideal empirical objects and real empirical objects. Their componentcomposition and the possibility of describing the three hierarchical components in the methodologyof the systems-genetic approach are presented. In conclusion, it is stated: the descriptions of labor andprofession proposed by E. A. Klimov serve as the basis for subsequent descriptions that expand andclarify them. It is necessary to search for and find a series of mutually complementary descriptions thatdesignate the main facets, aspects of the phenomenon being studied, revealing its essential propertiesand relationships with other phenomena. Value of the results. The allocation of three levels and threeunits of analysis — profession, specialty, workplace — is constructive in terms of their more accurateand differentiated analysis and description. This also allows integrating different methodologicalresources, attracting different scientific concepts for explanation.