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Ordinary Explanations and Career Theories
Author(s) -
YOUNG RICHARD A.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of counseling and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1556-6676
pISSN - 0748-9633
DOI - 10.1002/j.1556-6676.1988.tb00881.x
Subject(s) - value (mathematics) , psychology , predictability , epistemology , career counseling , career development , control (management) , social psychology , pedagogy , management , computer science , mathematics , economics , philosophy , statistics , machine learning
The author highlights the relatively unexplored relationship between ordinary language explanations of career behavior and formal theories of career development. As in Gergen and Gergen's (1982) framework, several ordinary explanations of career behavior are classified along two dimensions—the extent to which explanations are founded in the person or the situation and the extent to which they account for predictability and control or chance and change. The value of the framework for both theory development and practice is outlined. The use of ordinary explanations addresses a number of issues faced by counselors as they move between their clients' explanations and formal career and counseling theories.