Abstract:

The classical sociology of profession typically presupposes that a monopoly on professional knowledge automatically confers authority and naturally leads to public compliance. However, in today's increasingly complex emerging professional landscape, the "correctness" of epistemic rationality is often insufficient to directly translate into a "permission to act" needed to advance professional practice. When professional judgment encounters emotional resistance or value questioning, the static authoritative logic reveals its lack of explanatory power. In response to this theoretical dilemma, this paper takes Chinese pet healthcare industry as an empirical case study. The sector is profoundly shaped by the structural tension between "market force moving ahead and institutional frameworks lagging behind". Furthermore, the emotional economy has redefined pets as "quasi-family member, " significantly increasing the emotional engagement in veterinary interactions. In light of this dilemma, this paper introduces the analytical concept of "Translational Labor", arguing that professional practitioners must engage in continuous, two-way encoding of meaning in clinical practice. On the one hand, professional language is encoded into ethical values that align with the audience's framework through forward translation, thereby securing the legitimacy of action. On the other hand, through reverse translation, the overflowing emotional appeals are transformed into institutionalized contractual expressions, thereby defining the boundaries of risk. Based on qualitative field research, this paper further identifies three types of translation strategies in clinical interactions: cognitive translation, identity-based translation and emotional-ethical translation. The structural configuration of different organizational forms also profoundly shapes the preferences for these translation strategies. At the same time, faced with the inherent contradiction between forward and reverse translation, practitioners have developed a form of "strategic sincerity" that both fosters consensus and prevents themselves from suffering emotional fatigue. This paper argues that the battleground of modern professional jurisdiction is shifting from the simple monopoly of knowledge to the production of meaning and emotion.

Key words: translational labor, action permission, strategic sincerity, veterinary profession, professional authority