Medical Autonomy and the UK State 1975 to 2025

Medical autonomy in the United Kingdom has declined over the last twenty-five years, whether considered at the micro level (such as control over treatment and work patterns), the meso level (in terms of corporatist relations with the state) or the macro level (in terms of the ‘biomedical model’). Af...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Sociology (Oxford) 2000-02, Vol.34 (1), p.129-146
Main Authors:	Harrison, Stephen, Ahmad, Waqar I. U.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Autonomy Doctors General practice Governance Health care industry Health professions Health services Medical journals Medical practice Medicine Open universities Political freedom Post-Fordism Practice management Primary health care Professional workers Regulated industries Self-government Socialized Medicine Sociology Sovereignty State State Role State Society Relationship Studies Twentieth Century Twenty First Century United Kingdom Welfare state
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Summary:	Medical autonomy in the United Kingdom has declined over the last twenty-five years, whether considered at the micro level (such as control over treatment and work patterns), the meso level (in terms of corporatist relations with the state) or the macro level (in terms of the ‘biomedical model’). After a period in the early 1990s when the National Health Service displayed a mix of Fordist and post-Fordist controls, the emphasis has swung sharply towards the former, suggesting the continued explanatory value of theories which focus on the state's need both to contain welfare expenditure and to maximise the political legitimacy derived from it. The analysis of this relatively narrow area of sociology has implications for the study of much broader questions about the capacity and legitimacy of the state in the twenty-first century.
ISSN:	0038-0385 1469-8684