In the field of social intervention there are currently numerous expectations from both individual actors and institutions to become “reflexive”. This is related to public policies that have become “activating” and to the more global context of a so-called “reflexive” society. This article aims to show how Foucault’s conceptual tools allow us to problematize these various uses of reflexivity and their relationship to power in practices, and to identify on that basis certain ethical issues and possibilities in transforming social intervention.