The sociology of healthcare professions: the case of the professionalization of psychology in Spain

Abstract In this study, we analyse the discursive strategies of professionalization used by psychology in Spain during its professionalization phase in the health sector in the early twenty-first century. Our primary focus is the conflict with political regulators and other healthcare professions after the Ley de Ordenación de Profesiones Sanitarias (Healthcare Professions Act) came into effect, since this Act calls into question the extent to which psychology can be viewed as health care. We use discourse analysis to determine the discursive structure of the conflict, which has an interprofessional dimension, as well as the professionalization and social closure strategies of psychology within the framework of professional relationships (boundary work). We argue that understanding this conflict requires viewing it as part of the European and international regulation context of healthcare professions. Highlighted in the analysis is the emergence of two psychology discourses divided into four modes of enunciation (professionalizing, cultural, scientific, and political–economic). Among other aspects, the conclusions focus on the dual interprofessional and intraprofessional nature of the conflict and evidence of a dual closure in psychology. The latter’s professionalization strategies in the sector occasionally resemble those employed by nursing, although at other times they are similar to those followed by some paramedical professions.