This article analyzes the trajectories of three young residents of a small town in the Northeast, their transit to the social projects in the region, the conflicts they experienced in the relation with the organizations and program managers, their political and social engagement. Reports of the youths have been collected by means of semi-structured interviews as part of research on the trajectories of young people involved in social programs. Analyzing their life trajectories before, during and after their entry into the programs, we have sought to understand the meanings and consequences of such involvement, beyond what is usually pointed out in the literature with respect to opening up opportunities for social integration. In particular, we have questioned the nature of the conflicts experienced and their political implications. Their history is exemplary of how social projects for young people act, both because of the relation established between the "targeted" young people and the promoters of the initiatives, and because of how projects work and how their principles and goals (protagonism, empowerment, social responsibility) are achieved. From the point of view of social mobility, the trajectories of these young people can be considered successful. However, their dreams of autonomy and collective organization have been frustrated. The social space they occupy is still a subaltern place. Their histories are paradigmatic of how, in the context of neoliberal rationality, subjectivity becomes the object, target and resource of regulation strategies and of how behaviors are managed not against but through individual freedom.
Youth; Social projects; Entrepreneurship