Considering the variables of nationality, generation and social class, the article analyzes representations of citizenship within the sphere of public services. By combining three logics ? that of recognition, that of autonomy and that of merit ?, discourses break the essence of the classical notion of citizenship by modulating different accounts of practices and experiences regarding what it means to be a citizen. Through the analysis of the discourses produced from different social conditions in focus groups, it is possible to understand the main elements of value associated with the concept of citizenship. The progress of strategies t hat reward individual merit supersedes the logic of universal recognition, with important effects on the...