COU 8501 Career and Lifestyle Planning Textbooks Brown

COU 8501 Career and Lifestyle Planning

Textbooks • Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10 th ed. ). Upper Saddle River New Jersey: Pearson. • Swanson, J. L. , & Fouad, N. A. (2009). Career theory and practice: Learning through case studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Topic 1 CONTEXTUAL FACTORS, HISTORICAL CONCERNS AND FUTURE TRENDS

Contextual Factors • • • Global economy Socioeconomic factors Economic recession Technology and social media Mobility in workforce Labor market realities

Labor Market • • • High unemployment rates Outsourcing and offshoring Structural unemployment Blue collar and service jobs White collar jobs and college graduates

The World is Flat (Friedman, 2005) • • Interconnections in 21 st century economies Globalization Flattening through free markets Technology advancement Rapid social changes Entrepreneurship and accumulation of wealth Poor workers and protesters Government must provide infrastructure

Historical Concerns • Career development always concerned with social justice • Assistance to immigrants • Reduction or elimination of child labor • Advocacy for safe working conditions • Participation of women in the world of work • Income disparity • Civil rights • Human rights and environmental awareness

Career Development • Old models and theories patriarchal and potentially oppressive – Linear thinking – Objective decision-making – Empirical evidence • New postmodern models recognizes that theories are not value free but embedded in culture – Recursive and reflective thinking – Relativism and social constructionism – Validity of lived experience

Traditional Models Overemphasis upon individualism Excesses of capitalism Abuses of meritocracy Barriers for poor, disabled, women, and minority groups • Oppression and disenfranchisement • Inequity in the distribution of power, choice, and opportunity • •

Postmodern Approaches • Empowerment – Derived from feminist movement – Gender equity and freedom – Equal access to power, opportunity, and benefits of society • Postmodern – Grassroots, ground up not top down – Shared meaning making – Relativism with respect to values and constructs • Emancipatory Communitarianism – Intentional social justice and advocacy for diversity – Collectivism and mutual interest – Redistribution of wealth, power, and opportunity

Emancipatory Communitarianism • Based on critical psychology and liberation psychology perspectives • “…a good society as one in which all people have opportunities to work in safe, humane conditions with compensation that affords a sufficient standard of living” (Blustein, Mc. Whirter, & Perry, 2005, p. 148).

Emancipatory Communitarianism • “…communitarian refers to the emphases on compassion, social obligation, and mutual determination” (p. 150) • “emancipatory addresses the need for liberation among all groups that are dominated in society” (p. 150) • Prilleltensky (1997, p. 530) observed, “discourse without action is dangerous because it creates the impression that progress is taking place when in fact only the words have changed”

Problems with the American Dream • Primacy of the individual over family and community • Hard work does not lead to success for most • Status attainment based on family wealth and support of education • Dream embraces privilege of white males • Downward rather than upward mobility in middle class • Recession affects home ownership and access to luxuries • Unbridled capitalism does not produce more opportunities • Many poor and minority groups do not enjoy occupational choice • Posner (2011)

Problems with the Protestant Work Ethic • Calvin viewed success in one’s life as evidence of election • Persons who somehow failed were treated as wrong or deficient (“blaming the victim”) • Protestant work ethic could be viewed as coercive and oppressive with respect to women and minority groups • Asian workers influenced by Confucian ideals: civil service, family orientation, and collective effort

Career Perspectives • “Career is a series of • “Career development is paid or unpaid a lifelong process occupations or jobs that involving psychological, a person holds sociological, throughout his or her educational, economic, life” (Brown, 2012, p. and physical factors, as 14) well as chance factors that interact to influence the career of an individual” (Brown, 2012, p. 15)

Evolution of Career Construct • • • Vocational guidance Vocational/career education Career assessment and information Career counseling Career coaching

Career Development Journals • • • Career Development Quarterly Counseling Psychologist Journal of Counseling Psychology Journal of Vocational Behavior Journal of Career Development

Why People Work • Economics do not fully explain why a person works • Historically, work was considered punishment • Working for money was initially considered to be offensive • People work for status, recognition, affiliation, participation, and meaning • They work to enhance self-esteem • Satisfaction in life frequently linked to job satisfaction

The Future of Work • • • • Globalism Open markets with community conscience Decentralization of the workplace Replacement of human workers with machines and robots Computer assisted, remote/external, and distance education Lifelong or recurrent education Social networking Environmentalism and resource allocation Reversal of trend toward early retirement to lifelong working Virtual reality and cyber-business Increasing healthcare with aging population Displacement of workers due to labor market and population changes Increasing reliance on paraprofessionals

References • Blustein, D. L. , Mc. Whirter, E. H. , & Perry, J. C. (2005). An emancipatory communitarian approach to vocational development theory, research, and practice. The Counseling Psychologist, 33(2), 141 -179. • Freidman, T. L. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the 21 st century. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. • Fromm, E. (1961). Marx’s concept of man. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing. • Posner, R. A. (2009). A failure of capitalism: The crisis of ‘ 08 and the descent into depression. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.