“Veterinary Medicine is a Profession for the Privileged”: Explaining Racial Homogeneity in a Health Occupation

• In Event: 3520 - Section on Race, Gender, and Class Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 3. Workplace and Professions

Abstract

Media reports have dubbed veterinary medicine as “the whitest profession” because racial/ethnic minorities constitute less than ten percent of workers. I conducted in-depth interviews with a diverse group of practicing veterinarians and veterinary students to determine if there are social barriers to racial minorities’ inclusion in the profession. I found that the numerical dominance of whites in veterinary medicine is sustained by social processes in which powerful actors racialize and gender professional knowledge and skills. The pervasive assumption among veterinary professionals is that whites make up the vast majority of their client base. As such, one explanation for the lack of worker diversity offered by participants in my study is that white clients will only work with white veterinarians because clients presume that they share important racialized experiences. The knowledge and skill contributions of racial/ethnic minority veterinarians are deemed irrelevant or rendered invisible in everyday interactions and organizational logics. This study contributes to our understanding of how stereotypes and cultural matching play roles in the racial segregation of professions.

Author

• Adilia E.E. James, Endicott College