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Although it was the outbreak of the French Revolution that led to the initial groundwork being laid—via the principle of compulsory assistance— for what would later become social and medico-social action, it wasn’t until the end of the following century that this principle of compulsory assistance, the cornerstone of the future medico-social sector, was firmly established. Since then, it has continued to expand and develop, to the extent that lawmakers have had to intervene on several occasions to define and specify the main rules governing its organization and operation. However, after more than two centuries of history, we might still ask what defines the medico-social sector, what gives it its identity, and what similarities and differences are there between it and the two other related sectors: the health sector on the one hand, and the social sector on the other?