The present research deals with the policies directed at young adults on social assistance
without vocational training (YAS). Drawing on data collected within cantonal administrations
and providers of integration (Basel-City and Geneva) as well as interviews with YAS the
publication analysis cantonal social policies and their moral underpinnings. In Switzerland
there is an ongoing strategical shift in the field of youth policies that emphasizes
educational integra- tion as a first and primary integration step. This policy shift has
implications for the strategical scope of the cantons. The focus on education first as a
guideline dictates an approach which follows an intertwined neo-liberal and paternalistic
discourse: On the one hand social policies are designed as investment to avoid a long-term
labour market exclusion of the YAS. On the other hand these policies are legitimized via
narratives that construct the YAS as irresponsible and dependent - not yet ready to enter
adulthood. In doing so social policies create and reproduce structural vulnerabilities related
to dominant moral values like reinforcing the work ethics of young welfare beneficiaries.
