Vocation And Social Context

Illustrating the different ways in which Weber's category of Beruf can be interpreted, and how it can be studied from various perspectives and with different methods, this book demonstrates how "vocation" continues to be a fertile concept for contemporary sociology.

Illustrating the different ways in which Weber's category of "Beruf" can be interpreted, and how it can be studied from various perspectives and with different methods, this book demonstrates how "vocation" continues to be a fertile concept for contemporary sociology.

"I don't care for vocational books written in the United States; they're too American." When Susan Maros heard this comment from a Malaysian colleague, she was initially taken aback. Isn't the concept of calling universal? Why wouldn't resources with a biblical perspective on vocation apply to everyone? The reality is that each of us encounters our questions of calling from within a particular context. In this paradigm-shifting book, Maros explores how various dimensions of social location—including race, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status, and gender—shape our assumptions and experiences with vocation. Maros helps Christians in the United States in particular see how ideas about calling that emphasize certainty, career paths, and personal achievement arise from cultural priorities that shouldn't go unexamined, such as individualism, productivity, and meritocracy. She explains how unexamined "mental maps" can distort our perspective and refocuses our attention on biblical insights about calling as a lifelong journey. In the process, she helps us find both clarity and encouragement to explore the paths before us. God calls all people, yes—but calling is not a monolithic concept. Filled with numerous stories from Christians in diverse communities, Calling in Context invites anyone exploring questions of calling to find fresh possibilities in their own identity and engagement with God's mission. Reflection questions and Bible study prompts are included throughout.

"The contemporary world-of-work makes demands upon the field of career development and vocational psychology to ensure that theories and practices retain their relevance amidst the complexity of work and learning in people's lives. Social Constructionism is the emerging paradigm that can reformulate theories and practices of career development that have come before. Social Constructionism opens new perspectives and raises questions about phenomena that have captured the imagination of scholars and practitioners for a century. In this fourth book in the Sense Career Development Series, a host of international authors open the window of Social Constructionism to reveal the challenges that lay ahead in the next generation of research and practice. This little book is ideal for the graduate scholar, researcher, and seriously curious practitioner who seek to understand Social Constructionism, the questions it raises, and how those questions may be answered. Readers will be challenged to think hard, review their assumptions, and see the world of work and learning anew. The rewards are worth the effort."

This book introduces a coherent perspective on the self-regulatory career meta-capacities that individuals, as career agents, need to successfully manage their career development in a boundaryless occupational world. Enriched by empirical data and case studies by subject specialists in the fields, it serves as a cutting-edge benchmark for specialists, professionals and post-graduate students in the careers field to study. This book allows an in-depth view of the most recent research trends on the critical psycho-social constructs influencing the adaptation, adaptivity, adaptability and employability of individuals in a turbulent, uncertain and chaotic work world. In addition, it offers the practising professional new perspectives of career constructs and measures to consider in career counseling and guidance for the contemporary career.

Social competences have played a crucial role in the international search for generic, over-arching skills, key qualifications and core competences since the 1970s. By the end of 1990, social cohesion and integration had gained new momentum in this discourse because of their importance for the functioning of global market economy and industries. Moreover, the concept of social capital affects and changes the role of social competences in vocational and continuing education. This volume presents a collection of papers which reflect and describe these changes and their political, economical and pedagogical backgrounds and implications. The topics include economisation of social competences, social competences as key qualifications for employability and entrepreneurship, social challenges in eroding welfare societies, gender and social competences, and the ideological and economical context of the social competences discourse.

Published in 1999. Lifelong learning is the slogan with which the Labour Government has chosen to publicise and popularise its values and policies for post-16 education and training under the new administration. Dr. Hyland’s book subjects New Labour policy - particularly developments surrounding the University for Industry and the New Deal - to searching scrutiny and offers a number of recommendations designed to upgrade vocational education and training (VET). If we are to create a high status and high quality VET system comparable to those of our European competitors we will need, Dr. Hyland argues, to move towards a unified curriculum in the post-school sector bringing with it the abolition of the present three-track model of NVQs, GNVQs and GCSEs/A Levels. More significantly it is argued that all vocational learning - both work-based and college-based - needs to be underpinned by a common core of knowledge and understanding and crucially, be located within a values framework which gives due attention to social justice and community interests rather than simplistic and utilitarian economistic objectives and employability skills. Moreover, the aesthetic and moral dimensions of vocational studies are not optional extras but areas of vocational learning experience which are essential and foundational if vocational education and training is to be enhanced in order to satisfy current lifelong learning criteria. Dr. Hyland’s challenging account provides one of the first comprehensive philosophical and policy critiques of New Labour VET developments and will be of interest to those committed to high quality vocational studies on all sides of education and industry as well as to lecturers, tutors, trainers and students working in post-compulsory education and training.

A. No major gaps