Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine and the California Merger: The Death and Revival of a Profession

• In Event: 092 - Regular Session. Political, Legal, and Scientific Contexts of Occupations

Abstract

Using historical methods, this paper examines the disappearance and later reestablishment of the Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) profession in California from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. This case study gives us an opportunity to examine how the boundaries of a category can be broken down and then reestablished through political negotiations. I find that similarities drawn across professional boundaries can build support for and lead to the weakening of a boundary, leading to its dissolution, while the reestablishment of the boundary can be accomplished by very few through the legal system.

Author

• Gawin Tsai, University of Chicago