Before going further, we need to clarify what we mean by ‘client’ and acknowledge the blurred boundaries of this concept. In many work domains, it is often not clear who is, and who is not, a client. Some recipients of professional work have not demanded or consented to it, as for instance when psychiatrists hospitalize and treat nonconsenting patients. ‘Clients’ do not pay professionals directly for their work when there is a third-party payer involved, such as the government or an insurance company ( , (). The Social Control of Impersonal Trust. American Journal of Sociology, 93(3). 623–658. https://doi.org/10.1086/228791 ) . Also, professions use various terms to identify their clients (clients, consumers, patients, service users, etc.) and sometimes use different terms depending on the work domain (e.g., psychologists may say ‘patients’ in healthcare organizations and ‘clients’ in private practice). Being or not being a client is sometimes a political struggle, as with ‘queers’, ‘survivors,’ ‘fat’, and ‘mad’ folks who seek to de-medicalize their condition and refuse to be considered ‘patients’ ( , (). Patient groups and health movements. InHackett, E., Amsterdamska, O., Lynch, M. & Wajcman, J. (Eds.), The handbook of science and technology studies. (3rd ed). MIT Press : Published in cooperation with the Society for the Social Studies of Science. ) . Moreover, the balance of power between professionals and clients varies greatly across work domains and contexts, as ( , , p. 429 (). Theory and the Professions. 64 Indiana Law Journal 423 (1989), 64(3). Retrieved from https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol64/iss3/1 ) explains:

If clients are relatively few in number, sophisticated, well-organized and politically or economically powerful, the capacity of members of a profession to select the work they do and determine how they do it is markedly limited: their clients will call many of the shots. On the other hand, if clients are many, unorganized, heterogeneous and individually without significant resources of individual power, professionals are in a better position to call most of the shots.

The clients we theorize about are of the second type, which is typical in health-related work domains ( , & al., , & (). Organizational Science and Health Care. Academy of Management Annals, 15(2). 537–576. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2019.0115 ) . It is also typical of other professional domains such as education ( & , & (). Structured and unstructured homeschooling: a proposal for broadening the taxonomy. Cambridge Journal of Education, 47(3). 355–371. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2016.1174190 ) , religion ( , & al., , & (). The Faithful Rise Up: Split Identification and an Unlikely Change Effort. Academy of Management Journal, 53(4). 673–699. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.52814362 ) and law and order ( & , & (). Retrieved from https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a19180106/patrisse-cullors-tarana-burke-black-lives-matter-metoo-activism/ ) . This type of client can be difficult to distinguish from members of the public, especially when the latter receive services unpredictably or sporadically; third-party payment and government mandates are involved; and/or the recipient of professional work do not explicitly consent to it ( , (). Theory and the Professions. 64 Indiana Law Journal 423 (1989), 64(3). Retrieved from https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol64/iss3/1 ; , (). The Social Control of Impersonal Trust. American Journal of Sociology, 93(3). 623–658. https://doi.org/10.1086/228791 ) .

By acknowledging that a set of criteria to reliably distinguish between clients and non- clients appears elusive, we embrace the blurred boundaries of the client concept. Accordingly, we consider as a client any person on the receiving end of professional work and over whom professional prescriptions apply ( , (). Professional Powers: A Study of the Institutionalization of Formal Knowledge. University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo5958556.html ) , ( , (). Men and Their Work. Quid Pro, LLC. ) . This definition emphasizes the interdependence of professions and clients insomuch as they need each other to exist.