Physicians as ‘Organic Intellectuals’

Abstract

Since the early 1980s, healthcare systems in welfare states have undergone a process of transformation, with the convergence towards different forms of managed care as one of its central characteristics. The process has also brought about changes within the medical profession. Most physicians, and some sociologists, understand the transformation as a process of deprofessionalization. This article presents an alternative explanation, understanding changes as a process of redistribution of power and resources within the profession, and as a change in the relationship between the medical profession and the hegemonic bloc.