Social Justice Concept

     Through reading chapter one, I learned that careers are not solely based upon what a person might want to do with their life, but the social injustices and 'chance factors' that come into play. A simplistic point of view is that someone picks a career and succeeds in it, but this is not a reality. There are many unfair advantages that a person might have over another person including education, how successful their parents are, and race. This leads to the concept of social justice in regards to career development. Social justice calls for economic equality and to provide each individual the same access to education, healthcare, technology, etc. This is a concept that is highly debated, specifically in government. If every person had the same access to a good education and healthcare, it would be possible for those who are economically marginalized by oppression and discrimination to advance further in careers than previously.
     I find myself taking a step back and reflecting about opportunities that enable me to advance in my career, compared to other students I had gone to school with. A term that truly stuck with me was 'status attainment.' My father has a masters level education and my mother completed some college. They both currently hold salaried positions in their fields and I grew up in the middle class. The expected level of education from them for my siblings and me was, at the least, an undergraduate degree. My education advancement is highly influence by my parents attitudes transmitted through my family. I had class mates in high school that were the first to graduate high school in their family. Most did not go on to further their educations because their families did not expect them to and they did not have the same resources I had. Furthering their education would have been a financial burden on them and their families. If we had economic equality, this would not be as much of an issue.
     I, previously, did not look at career development objectively. I thought specifically of my career and the careers of those close to me. Most of the people close to me had the same resources and levels of education. I attributed much of the success to their academic drive. I realize now that this was not the only influence. Our advances in career stem from various factors and the opportunities we are afforded because of each of them; we are not all equal in this aspect. The recognition of the inequality in the system only goes to show that the system needs to change.

Brown, D., & Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career
     development (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson.