This article is about how the Study Associations belonging to Liberal Adult Education (folkbildningen) deal with their role under New Public Management (NPM). Key issues of volun­tary organizations are the ideas or the particular nature for which they were created, and which forms the basis for their activities. When introducing competitive markets these ideas risk being bent in order to meet the demands of the market, and the requirements for economic effectiveness. The organization’s interplay with the changes of the environment is highlighted through the use of the New Institutional Theory. The rhetoric analysis of the self-images of the Study Associations, as actors of the market of education, show a linguistic usage where they both point out their role as actors of the market of adult education and their ideological affiliation to “folkbildningen”. By using the traditional discourse emphasizing pathos (emotions and values) and combine it with logos (programs to qualify the target group) the Study Associations create a special character or a profile of their education. Instead of a deinstitutionalization of the character of the Study Associations we can se a recycling of the traditional discourse in the new context.