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New Labour, Modernisation and the Medical Labour Process
Abstract
The label ‘modernisation’, originally coined to signify reform within the Labour Party, has since 1997 increasingly been used as a descriptor of various facets of public policy. This paper addresses three questions, all in the context of health policy. What (if anything) is the impact of the notion of modernisation on NHS medical labour process, what is its substantive content, and how might we explain its rise to prominence? On the first question, I suggest that a model of medicine (which I term ‘scientific-bureaucratic medicine’) is being developed that embodies many of the specific characteristics of Fordist labour processes. On the second question, I suggest that ‘modernisation’ denotes a philosophy towards the governance of the NHS which entails the distinctive characteristics of the project which social theorists have termed ‘modernity’. The third question has particular significance in a social context (variously termed ‘late modernity’ or ‘postmodernity’) generally thought of as characterised by trends towards postFordist labour processes. I tentatively suggest that scientific-bureaucratic medicine can be viewed as the state's (not necessarily successful) strategy for coping with radical consumerism and changing perceptions of risk and expertise in the context of health and medicine.
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“In this sense, the QOF was strongly aligned with the new managerialism being introduced by the New Labour government in the early 2000sa policy of 'transparency' (i.e. the collection and public release of performance data) and close monitoring of this performance towards nationally set targets.”
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Modernisation as a professionalising strategy: the case of critical care in England
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“It affects the structure of labor processes themselves ( Harrison 2002 ) because the efforts of the workers involved (who need not be professionals) are invested in care rather than cure.”
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“Harrison [20] has shown that the major narrative theme of that time, modernisation, in the case of restructuring the NHS particularly meant the introduction of evidence-based information, i.”
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“…of codified knowledge and the erosion of health care professionals’ reliance on tacit knowledge (Nettleton, Burrows, and Watt 2008; Andersen and Vedsted 2015), what Harrison and others have referred to as a process of deprofessionalisation (Harrison and Dowswell 2002; Shore and Wright 2015).”
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“This is in direct contrast to a general perception that health professionals appear to be operating in circumstances where error and uncertainty are less tolerated in general ( Harrison 2002 ).”
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“While Harrison (2002) is right to remind us of the importance of the term ‘modernization’ to the remaking of the Labour Party when in opposition, he is also clear on the importance of the term in relation to how New Labour in government has represented itself.”
BackgroundGreenhalgh, T., Stramer, K., Bratan, T., Byrne, E., Hinder, S., & POTTS, H. W. W. (2010) · Cited by 8
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“Harrison (2002), although his work pre-dates that reorganisation, captures the tension present in this most clearly in his analysis of ‘scientific-bureaucratic’ medicine, which seeks to routinise medical practice under the claim of evidence-based medicine, and then hold doctors to account for the…”
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Metadata
- Authors
- HARRISON, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Corresponding author
- HARRISON, STEPHEN
- ORCID
- HARRISON, STEPHEN
- Venue
- Journal of Social Policy
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2002-07
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 465-485
- ISSN
- 0047-2794 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7823
- OpenAlex
- W2170017965
- Cited by
- 214
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 16.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Social Policy (publishedVersion)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Services Management and Policy
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare Systems and Challenges
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Healthcare Systems and Practices
- Keywords
- New Labour, modernization, National Health Service, Fordism, post-Fordism, late modernity, postmodernity, health policy, consumerism, medical professionalism
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