This introductory chapter examines the fundamental contradiction within contemporary social policy, which operates simultaneously as an institution of care and a technology of governance. Drawing on Foucauldian biopolitical analysis, the study reveals how social care has transformed from traditional philanthropic practices to complex systems of administrative management that produce new forms of subjectivity. The chapter traces the historical transition from nineteenth-century philanthropy through the Keynesian welfare state to contemporary neoliberal activation policies, demonstrating how care functions as a mechanism of both protection and social control. Three central concepts structure the theoretical framework: care as biopolitical practice, visibility as a condition of social inclusion, and silence as a liminal form of subjectivity. The analysis eschews prescriptive policy recommendations, instead offering critical reflection on the structural ambivalences of welfare regimes. By illuminating how contemporary social protection simultaneously supports and disciplines recipients, the work aims to provide conceptual tools for understanding the paradoxes of twenty-first-century welfare governance.