ABSTRACT
The very nature of specialization means that clients do not know and cannot know as much about an occupation as its practitioners. If an occupation wins something like a monopoly on managing a particular sphere, society has granted its practitioners “license”: they may tell others what to do in that sphere, regardless of social rank. Strong license will include practitioners’ monopoly on judging colleagues’ success. Some occupations are socially licensed to manage dangerous substances, objects, and forms of knowledge, and along with that burden of responsibility may come the license to live differently from others. An occupation may also win a “mandate” or authority to tell others how to act and think about the sphere of specialization.
