This book has argued that democratic professionalism should be the response of public professionals to the current state of public services and the changing role of the state. Democratic professionalism is an attempt to change the way in which public professionals work with service users, ultimately creating more democratic relationships. There is a long history of public professionals exploring alternative and progressive approaches to working with services users, some of which have been reviewed in this book and some of which have been taken up as mainstream practices.

However, the continued existence of many current examples of democratic professionalism is now threatened by the reduced role of the state in the provision of public services. This can be characterised as the hollowing out through outsourcing, privatisation, extensive restructuring and continued austerity policies. Increasingly the impact of these processes is leading to a much-reduced state which only provides a basic level of public service. The individual is now forced to take more responsibility for support which was previously provided through public services, while some are reduced to destitution.

There are elements of public sector reform, continuing since the global financial crisis of 2008, for example the focus on co‑production and consumers, which highlight the need to develop new and different relationships with services users. However, the nature of public sector reforms has meant that the emphasis on consumers was essentially a superficial commitment to user interests which does not result in any significantly different relationships between public professionals and services users. This book has taken a critical perspective towards co-production, because it fits more into the goals of public sector reform and subsequent austerity policies with citizens encouraged to contribute their time, knowledge or assets to the provision of public services or even as an alternative to them.

The example of Arendt's vita activa, in relation to concepts of plurality, the public sphere and natality, is used to explain how to take democratic action giving an important theoretical dimension to this book. Although Arendt was writing in the 1950s, many of the questions which she tried to answer are very relevant to the early 21st century. This has been shown in why and how people try and take democratic political action. The case studies used in this book are intended to show why democratic professionals choose to take action.