@article{Whiting_May_Saks_2020, title={Social Closure and Veterinary Professionalization in Britain: A Self-Interested or Public Interested Endeavour?}, volume={10}, url={https://journals.oslomet.no/index.php/pp/article/view/3321}, DOI={10.7577/pp.3321}, abstractNote={<p>The professionalization of veterinary medicine in Britain has been little studied by social scientists, although as a classic instance of an occupation that has achieved exclusionary social closure it merits examination from a neo-Weberian perspective. Therefore, this paper explores how it has attained this position through state action in an historical and contemporary context using neo-Weberianism as a theoretical lens. In charting the different stages and forms of professional regulation in veterinary medicine, group self-interest is identified as a central driver, following the neo-Weberian idiom. However, contrary to the position adopted by some neo-Weberians, the professionalization process is seen as being more complex than simply being interest-based, with the public interest being upheld. As such, through the case of veterinary medicine, it is claimed professional self-interests and the public interest can be co-terminous and mutually achieve a dynamic equilibrium.  They do not have to form part of a zero-sum game. </p>}, number={1}, journal={Professions and Professionalism}, author={Whiting, Martin and May, Stephen A and Saks, Mike}, year={2020}, month={Mar.} }