The focus of this book is on issues of professionalization in the health and social caring professions with a practical approach, looking at what actually happens in particular caring professions and the developments in the 1980s in the context of new directions in the welfare state. A particular aspect of the book is its investigation into nursing as a profession and the manner in which it is viewed both from inside and from outside the profession, with the effect of new technology being taken into consideration as well as the impact of current debate about the professional and managerial status of women in nursing.