From the publisher’s description:
The Rise of Professional Society lays out a stimulating and controversial framework for the study of British society, challenging accepted paradigms based on class analysis. Perkins argues that the non-capitalist "professional class" represents a new principle of social organization based on trained expertise and meritocracy, a "forgotten middle class" conveniently overlooked by classical social theorists.
Perkin, Harold (NHC Fellow, 1982–83). The Rise of Professional Society: England Since 1880. New York: Routledge, 1989. ISBN 9780415008907.