Social control and symbolic use of law in youth welfare law

Social control in the field of youth welfare services is increasingly understandable as symbolic application of law. Using the example of the current situation in Austria, it is shown that thereby not only promises of inclusion and integration are withdrawn, but also claims of disciplinary control are abandoned. Thus, youth welfare law more and more represents an inherently contradictory construct whose symbolically generalised claim is sustained by subjecting its application to a sociotechnical and economic rationale.