Guild - Modern Guilds

Modern Guilds

Modern guilds exist in different forms around the world. In many European countries guilds have had a revival as local organizations for craftsmen, primarily in traditional skills. They may function as forums for developing competence and are often the local units of a national employer's organization.

In the United States guilds exist in several fields. The Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West are capable of exercising very strong control in Hollywood because a very strong and rigid system of intellectual property rights exists. These guilds exclude other actors and writers who do not abide by the strict rules for competing within the film and television industry in America. The Newspaper Guild is a labor union for journalists and other newspaper workers, with over 30,000 members in North America.

Real estate brokerage is an example of a modern American guild. Signs of guild behavior in real estate brokerage include: standard pricing (6% of the home price), strong affiliation among all practitioners, self-regulation (see National Association of Realtors), strong cultural identity (see Realtor), little price variation with quality differences, and traditional methods in use by all practitioners. In September 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors challenging NAR practices that, DOJ asserts, prevent competition from practitioners who use different methods. The DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission in 2005 advocated against state laws, supported by NAR, that disadvantage new kinds of brokers. U.S. v. National Assoc. of Realtors, Civil Action No. 05C-5140 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 7, 2005).

The practice of law in the United States is also an example of modern guilds at work. Every state maintains its own bar association, supervised by that state's highest court. The court decides the criteria for entering and staying in the legal profession. In most states, every attorney must be a member of that state's bar association in order to practice law. State laws forbid any person from engaging in the unauthorized practice of law and practicing attorneys are subject to rules of professional conduct that are enforced by the state's high court.

Medical associations that might be compared to guilds are the state Medical Boards, American Medical Association, and the American Dental Association. Medical licensing in most states require specific training, tests and years of low paid apprenticeship (internship and residency) under harsh working conditions. Even qualified international or out of state doctors are not allowed to practice without acceptance to by the local medical guild (Medical board). Similarly, nurses and physician's practitioners have their own guilds. A doctor cannot work as a physician's assistant unless (s)he separately trains, tests and apprentices as one.

Academia is also a guild. Apprentices (Ph.D.) student must work for years at very low wages assisting their Masters (faculty) and must produce an approved master work (Dissertation) before they can go work for others (tenure track appointments virtually require a Ph.D., and any Ph.D. candidate who leaves their master prior to getting their Ph.D.-trying to transfer to another Ph.D. program-will have to start all over again, or give up ever becoming a guild member.

Scholars from the history of ideas have noticed that consultants play a part similar to that of the journeymen of the guild systems: they often travel a lot, work at many different companies and spread new practices and knowledge between companies and corporations.

Many professional organizations similarly resemble the guild structure. Professions such as architecture, engineering, geology, and land surveying require varying lengths of apprenticeships before one can be granted a 'professional' certification. These certifications hold great legal weight and are required in most states as a prerequisite to doing business there.

Thomas W. Malone of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology champions a modern variant of the guild structure for modern "e-lancers", professionals who do mostly telework for multiple employers. Insurance including any professional liability, intellectual capital protections, an ethical code perhaps enforced by peer pressure and software, and other benefits of a strong association of producers of knowledge, benefit from economies of scale, and may prevent cut-throat competition that leads to inferior services undercutting prices. And, as with historical guilds, will resist foreign competition. The free software community has from time to time explored a guild-like structure to unite against competition from Microsoft, e.g. Advogato assigns journeyer and master ranks to those committing to work only or mostly on free software.

In the City of London, the ancient guilds survive as Livery Companies, most of which play a ceremonial role. Guilds also survive in the UK in Preston, Lancashire, as the Preston Guild Merchant where among other celebrations descendants of Burgesses are still admitted into membership. In 1878 the London Livery companies established the City and Guilds of London Institute the forerunner of the engineering school (still called City and Guilds college) at Imperial College London. The aim of the City and Guilds of London Institute was the Advancement of Technical Education. Today City and Guilds is an examining and accreditation body for vocational, managerial and engineering qualifications from entry level craft and trade skills up to post doctoral achievement.

Australia is home to a Guild of Commercial Filmmakers, an association of commercial, short film and feature filmmakers.

In Finland, the equivalent of honor societies in universities are guilds.