Abstract
This study investigates how managers in reception centers for asylum seekers understand and construct their own experiences of vulnerability within a context already characterized by multiple and intersecting forms of vulnerability. Drawing on the ethics of care, relational vulnerability, and relational autonomy, the study argues that vulnerability should be viewed as a universally shared – yet context specific and particular – human condition. Rather than treating vulnerability as something to be avoided or as a deficit that prompts protective or paternalistic policies, we should also direct attention to the social structures and power imbalances that intensify or generate new vulnerabilities in addition to treating vulnerability as a shared constitutive condition. This perspective calls for recognizing the diverse ways vulnerability is experienced and navigated, and for fostering autonomy relationally whenever possible as a matter of social justice. By exploring these issues, the study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of vulnerability in the context of immigration – especially within immigration management – where preconceived categorizations often shape how vulnerability is perceived and addressed.