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This contribution provides an overview of the history of social work in Switzerland in terms of professionalization. It opens with a presentation of the organization of Swiss social action, fragmented and complex because of the principles of federalism and subsidiarity. The author then shows how the significant development of social work in Switzerland over the last 100 years is, or is not, synonymous with professionalization. It retains three dimensions of professionalization identified by Bourdoncle (2000): the professionalization of activities, that of knowledge and training, and that of the professional group. In these three dimensions, according to the author, professionalization is real and partial.