Politics, ecologies and professional regulation

The case of British Columbia's Professional Governance Act

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5610328
AutoresT L Adams (0000-0002-6649-5988, Department of Sociology The University of Western Ontario London Ontario Canada, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen75
Número4
Páginas420-434
Fecha de publicación2024-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-4446.13093
PMID38587196
OpenAlexW4394570435
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas31

A variety of theories have been proposed to explain why states pass legislation to regulate professional groups, and why, more recently, they have acted to curtail professional privileges. While these theories have drawn attention to the importance of power dynamics and public protection, among other factors, the role of political interests has been downplayed. This article builds on ecological theory to argue that, with some modifications, the theory illuminates the centrality of state-profession relations and politics to regulatory change. The theory is applied to a case study of regulatory change in British Columbia, Canada impacting resources-sector professions, with particular attention to the controversies and political considerations that shaped reform. The case study suggests that when the political and professions ecologies are overlapping and symbiotic, as they were in BC, a challenge in the political ecology can implicate professions, prompting a solution that brings change within both ecologies

Centrality · Corporate governance · Economics · Environmental ethics · Legislation · Management · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · Variety (cybernetics · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Occupational and Professional Licensing Regulation · Public Administration · Regulation and Compliance Studies