Entitlement Struggles: Occupational Closure through Moral Qualification

Heba Alex, University of Chicago

This project examines how groups practice social closure after rights are expanded to previously excluded citizens. To do so, it looks at the restrictions groups try to impose on expanded formal rights. Using employment-related rights as an illustrative case, I explore occupational closure through moral qualifications by tracing how various state-level laws limited the “entitlement” to practice certain occupations to applicants of “good moral character.”

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 Presented in Session 151. Powers of Class and Business