The debate within the Church of England on opening the priesthood to w
omen is analysed from the perspective of grid/group theory as a strugg
le between two competing models of the Church: the accommodationist an
d the exclusivist. The ascendancy of the accommodationist Church refle
cts the decline of status professionalism and rise of the formally rat
ional modern profession, in which the criteria of occupational closure
are themselves rationalized.