Politics, ecologies and professional regulation

The case of British Columbia's Professional Governance Act

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5610328
AutoresT L Adams (0000-0002-6649-5988, Department of Sociology The University of Western Ontario London Ontario Canada, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume75
Fascículo4
Páginas420-434
Data de publicação2024-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-4446.13093
PMID38587196
OpenAlexW4394570435
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências 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