Ordnung, Moral und Zwang / Ordre, morale et contrainte

Social risks were not adequately insured in Switzerland for a long time. Part of the population remained dependent on the discretion of welfare and guardianship authorities in case of need. Particularly unemployed, sick or impoverished persons were placed in closed institutions instead of receiving financial support. The laws made it possible to justify such administrative care with "work-shyness", "dissoluteness" and "drunkenness". With these moralising categories, the authorities assigned the blame for the care to those affected. In the cantons of Fribourg, Schwyz, Vaud and Zurich studied, the measures taken had the explicit purpose of disciplining and punishing. Pendant longtemps, les risques sociaux n'ont pas suffisamment été assurés en Suisse. In cases of need, part of the population was then subject to the free appraisal of the authorities. Persons without employment, maladjusted or in a situation of precariousness, who were accused of "being used for inconvenience" or "to The "fainter" or the "alcoholic" have been incarcerated in institutions rather than financially supported. With these moral catégorisations, the authorities placed the blame for the internment on the individuals themselves. In the cantons of Fribourg, Schwyz, Vaud and Zurich, which were the subject of this study, the openly expressed aim of the measures was to discipline and sanction.