Ever felt like you just don’t quite fit into what people call “professionalism”? You’re not imagining things. In this podcast episode based on the article "The Truth About Professionalism," Emil Ahangarzadeh argues that professionalism isn’t just about doing a good job—it’s a set of unspoken expectations rooted in specific cultural norms, primarily those aligned with Western European traditions.
Discover how these dominant standards, shaped by Western European ideals, were developed to benefit particular groups and marginalize others, especially along racial, class, and gender lines. Learn how this plays out in subtle and explicit ways, from dress codes that disproportionately penalize Black professionals for wearing natural hair to demands that speakers of culturally rooted dialects “code-switch” to Standard American English.
The episode explores how traditional professionalism functions as a system of social regulation and control, implicitly or explicitly asking those from non-dominant groups to shed parts of their identity. It’s time to abandon the myth that professionalism is a neutral or merit-based system. Tune in to hear a powerful vision for a radically reimagined professionalism that prioritizes the substance of someone’s work, valuing authenticity and collaboration over assimilation and quiet compliance.
https://dottore.substack.com/p/the-truth-about-professionalism
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