Chapter one blog post

            Before reading this chapter, I must admit, I had a pretty negative view of what I expected career development/ career counseling to look like. In one of my responses on the discussion board, I even referred to it as, “all too often rigid in the sense of what experiences you have directly relating to the subject at hand or how many relevant positions you can fit onto a one page resume.” However, after reading chapter one, my eyes have been opened to see that career development is moving in a new direction that is inclusive of recognizing social justice issues and the need to consider individuals within their social contexts (Brown, 2012).

            This chapter was informative in the sense that I now know how much controversy there is over what it means when you say job versus what it means when you say a career. In my personal everyday language, I have always used job, occupation, position, career, etc. interchangeably. However, there are differences that have been debated by different psychologists for many years. There are also different meanings people associate with the value of working. Brown listed that work, to some people, is purely an economic means. He went on to state that working for others can provide not only the individual, but the family as well, with status, recognition, and affiliation. Working is also stated as a way to develop a sense of mastery and self-esteem. People who are working typically have higher self-esteem than their unemployed counterparts because of the belief that they are creating something of value. I would argue Brown in this case. In my opinion, it would depend on whether or not the person is fulfilled in the work they are doing. If someone is underemployed, I would predict that their self -esteem would be just as low and those who are unemployed because of the possible disappointment and dissatisfaction with the job in general. For example, if someone working as a professor (job cited in Brown as being highly preferred) was laid off and could only find another job as a desk worker, I doubt, although it is possible, that he or she would see the same value in the job they were doing.

            The part of this chapter that impacted me the most and resonated well with a previous project I worked on is the topic of social justice. This past summer, I took multicultural counseling and applied social psychology. The diversity issues I learned from multicultural counseling inspired my diversity project topic for applied social psychology. For this project, I focused on the concept of social mobility, which is similar to Brown’s statement that the race for social attainment does not have the same starting point for everyone (Brown, 2012). Here is a link to the video that mirrors my project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KlmvmuxzYE. A key message I am taking from this chapter is that issues of racism, sexism, classism, and all the other “isms” are essential for us to be aware of, especially in the work environment, as they will impact our relationships with future clients.