Angels and interfering busybodies: the social construction of two occupations

The aim of this paper is to look at the creation, function, and ‘meaning’ of the two occupations of health visitor and district nurse. Drawing upon the historical construction of both occupations within specific discourses, the current work practices and training, and upon interviews with current students, a theory of the class nature of these two occupations is proposed. This involves a definition of class as a form of work practice and not a social‐economic or occupational classification. The division between theory and practice, manual and non‐manual labour, and in this instance, between ‘nursing’ as a natural ascribed female quality and ‘education’ as an artificially acquired facility which is gender contradictory is, it is argued, primarily a class division. The title of this paper derives from a summation of some of the perceptions of recipients of community health services collected in a previous research study on their satisfaction with these services. 1