This study concerns young people who have experienced war, taken shelter in Sweden, and been placed in institutions. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze power relations that contribute to the shaping of young people’s identities and repertoires of action via stigmatizations and social comparisons with different reference groups. The study’s empirical material includes qualitatively oriented interviews with six young people from Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan who have experienced war followed by placement in institutional care in Sweden. Analytical findings with the following themes are presented: (1) power relations and war, (2) power relations and escape from war, and (3) power relations and post war. The study demonstrates that narratives about war, escaping war, and postwar life in Sweden construct and reconstruct an image of a series of interactive rituals that are both influenced by and influence the power dynamic between the actors. This relationship in turn creates and recreates an interplay among the stigmatizing experiences of the youths, their social comparisons, and definitions of inequality.