ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the politics of professionalization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the Anglo-American context - focusing primarily on Britain and the United States, in relation to North America. Trait and functionalist commentators have historically viewed professions as different from other occupations, playing a positive and important role in the wider society. The neo-Weberian perspective on professions is represented by authors like Parkin (1979) and Collins (1990) and is based on the notion of social closure. Central to the neo-Weberian notion of professions and professionalization is the emphasis given to the fluidly changing boundaries between professions and other occupational groups. In Britain, the medical monopoly was founded on the 1858 Medical Registration Act which placed the profession for the first time on a national self-governing basis by creating one register, with unified control over the standards of medical education.
