Professionalism in Retreat? How New Public Management has Affected the Swedish Doctors

In this paper the impact of New Public Management is issued in terms of its effects on the professionalism of the Swedish doctors, where professionalism is conceptualized, according to Freidson's (2001) definition, as "the institutional circumstances in which the members of an occupation rather than consumers or managers control work". Also the ideal type builds on the assumption that the conditions for professionslism must be negotiated with and protected by the state. Using the ideal type as a fixed point to examine change in doctors' institutional circumstances between ca 1960-1985 and ca 1985-2000 (the NPM-era), I conclude that their professionalism has decreased as a concequence of NPM