Community, Care, and the Reimagining of Professional Boundaries: Integrating Lay Expertise in Hybrid Occupational Roles

Inspired by Glimmerveen (2014) on boundary work in care professions and Trinidad’s (2025) SCRIPTS framework, this research would explore cases where “lay” community actors are not just recipients but active co-providers of professional services. For example, how do teachers, nurses, or social workers navigate the tension between professional expertise and community ownership? What happens to professional identity, status, and power when boundaries blur? This is novel because most research still treats civic actors as outside the occupational field; here, we’d investigate emergent “hybrid” roles and the organizational conflicts they create. The findings could inform theory on professions, democratization of expertise, and organizational adaptation in an age of participatory governance.

References:

1. Redefining who cares? Challenging professional roles for accommodating community ownership. L. Glimmerveen (2014).
2. Mapping Organizational Theory With SCRIPTS. J. E. Trinidad (2025). Sociology Compass.