Certain professions face diminishing public respect

Posted on April 3, 2023
Kevin Leicht, a sociology professor at the University of Illinois, has written a book about how professions which require an advanced degree have lost their luster(photo courtesy of Pixabay)

By Jake Fogal

SPRINGFIELD – Your kid’s studying to be a doctor? So what !!

A new book shows such professions face diminishing public respect, “Crisis in the Professions: the New Dark Age” fleshes this out. Co-uthor Kevin Leicht is a sociology professor at the University of Illinois …

“We really have the disinformation of recent years and what others have called the war on expertise: the charge that nobody actually knows anything, that experts don’t know anything, and it’s all a conspiracy to deprive us of something we would have if the professions were not there. That’s really what the book is about.

“It’s pretty depressing, actually.”

One effect is that hard-earned medical or law degree, Leicht says, may not bring as high a salary as you would think.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].

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