The social construction of nursing.

The struggle that nursing has experienced to gain just status and financial reward can be explained, at least in part, by examining dominant ideologies in Australian society today. For example, such ideologies devalue caring in various ways, and since caring is a basic tenet of nursing, these ideologies ultimately devalue nursing itself. This paper explores the way in which the image and role of nursing has been socially constructed in light of such hegemonic assumptions.