The social policy statement: a reappraisal

The social policy statement has been an extremely influential text in recent nursing history. Its potential as a guide in the future, however, depends on whether the view of the world it represents is one that nurses want to support. This article analyzes the concepts of person and society that underlie the definition of nursing. It suggests that at least two noncomplementary models of person and society are operating in the policy statement and discusses implications of those models for a theory of nursing.