Using ethnographic research in two socially-oriented children’s centers (MECS), this paper investigates how rite and ritualization can help fill in for the family. We look at the conditions that foster the appearance and use of rites and observe how these can serve as tools to promote social inclusion and participation, in combination with moral and educational culture. We hypothesize that “wild” psychologization of problems by professionals and the nearly exclusive recourse to clinical psychologists to regulate difficulties in such institutions leads to an under-valuation of the interest and effectiveness of rituals, in favor of the “talking cure” alone.

Adolescence, T. 31 n°1, pp. 169-179.