| Summary: | Are the Emmaüs communities heir to a paternalistic and assistantialist welfare practice, which fosters passivity and dependency, or are they emancipating their members and encouraging them to autonomy, in an non-conventional setting? This paper examines the nature of social welfare services these communities provide, in the light of prevailing norms that prompt them to activate individuals within a social investment framework. It will firstly argue that Emmaüs communities may be considered as a coping mechanism that buffers the effects of personal crises. It will then analyse the mix of continuity and change against the paradigms of integration, activation and autonomisation, which have come to prevail in the implementation of welfare policies.
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