Career Counseling:
Foundations, Perspectives, and Applications edited by David Capuzzi and Mark Stauffer
David S. Shen-Miller
Ellen Hawley McWhirter
Anne S. Bartone

Work
Vocation
Career

(1) Individualism and autonomy
(2) Affluence
(3) An open structure of opportunity based on assumptions of merit
(4) Work as the central role in people’s lives
(5) Logical, linear, and progressive development of work and career
(
Gysbers, Heppner, Johnston, and Neville, 2003)

Stage One: The Beginning
 Middle 1800s to early 1900s
 Industrial Revolution
 Urbanization
 Labor unions grow in strength
 Unskilled labor
 Engineer Frederick Taylor
 Scientific management

Stage One: The Beginning
 Extreme conditions of the workplace
 Children in Labor
 Women’s role in work
 Gender/race/class differences
 Protestant Work Ethic
 Social Darwinism

Stage One: The Beginning
Two Social Reform Movements
1.
Progressive Movement
2.
Educational Reform Movement

Stage One: The Beginning
Progressive Movement



Women’s suffrage
Regulation of industry
First child labor law 1908

Stage One: The Beginning
Educational Reform Movement
 Mass entrance into schools
 Child saving movement
 Factory and corporate schools

Stage One: The Beginning


The beginnings of vocational guidance
 Frank Parsons
 Vocation Bureau in Boston
 School-to-work transition
Choosing a Vocation (1909)
First vocational conference in Boston

Stage One: The Beginning
The beginnings of vocational guidance
 1913 National Vocational Guidance
Association (NVGA)
 1913 U.S. Department of Labor

Stage One: The Beginning
The beginnings of vocational guidance
 Jesse Davis
 Guidance in the schools
 John Dewey (1916)
 Integration of two tracks
1.
college preparatory
2.
vocational education
 Diversity in education

 WWI and its aftermath
 Women’s right to vote (1919)
 Automobiles, skyscrapers, and airplanes
 Large-scale immigration and legislation

Stage Two: (1914-1929)
Vocational Instruments and
Psychometrics


Army Alpha and Army Beta tests
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude
Battery
NVGA’s “Principles and Practices of
Vocational Guidance”

Stage Two: (1914-1929)


Legislation

Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1918
Smith-Hughes Act of 1917
Veteran’s Administration (VA)

Stage 3: (1929-1939)
The Great Depression and the
Expectations of a Nation
 Massive immigration into the U. S
 1929: The U.S. stock market crashed
 Roosevelt Administration’s New Deal
 Organized Labor strengthened
 Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Stage 3:
(1929-1939)
 The “child study” movement
 Social Security Act, 1935
 Jewish Vocational Services
 The Dictionary of Occupational Titles
(1939)

 Military and Non-military assessment
 MBTI, Strong’s Interest Inventory
 Occupational Outlook Handbook (OHH)
 The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (1939)

Stage 4: (1940-1957)
Legislation
 GI Bill of 1946
 George-Barden Act

Stage 4: (1940-1957)
 “ Vocational Guidance” replaced
 Developmental perspectives
 e.g., Erickson
 New psychological theories
 Maslow, Rogers
 New Career Theories
 Super, Ginzberg, Ann Roe

Stage 4: (1940-1957)
 Division of Counseling Psychology in 1952
 American Personnel and Guidance
Association (APGA) in 1952

 Boom for counseling
 Von Bertalanffy’s (1968) “systems theory”
 Work Adjustment theory

Stage 5: 1958-1970
Legislation in general
(1) Minority groups and women issues addressed and involved in vocational legislation, along with the emergence of affirmative action
(2) Barriers to vocational success were overtly considered for the first time
(3) Vocational guidance became even more integral to legislation aimed at reducing economic or occupational woes.

Stage 5: 1958-1970
Most Significant legislation
 The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of
1958
 Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963
 Civil Rights Act of 1964

Other Significant legislation
 Manpower Development and Training Act of
1962
 Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
 Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

Stage 6: The Boom Years
Continue (1970-1979)
 Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War
 Surge in popularity of vocational counseling
 Women’s Educational Equity Act of 1974
 Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinating
Council
 1973 Rehabilitation Act
 Education for All Handicapped Children Act of
1977

Stage 6: (1970-1979)
 NOICC and SOICC
 SIGI Plus, DISCOVER, Career Information
System (CIS), Guidance Information
System (GIS)
 Generalizability concerns of testing

Stage 6: (1970-1979)
 Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model
 Bandura’s Social learning theory
 Krumboltz’s theory
 Life Career Development theory

Stage 6: The Boom Years
Continue (1970-1979)
 Public perception of the profession
 National Board of Certified Counselors:
National Certified Career Counselor
 National Career Counselor Exam in 1983

 Growing recognition of diversity
 Decreasing power of organized labor
 Women’s entry into the workplace in greater numbers
 Legislative focus on connecting youth with vocational training

 Career decision-making
 Life Career Theory
 Theory of circumscription and compromise
 Theories challenged to reflect Diversity
 1984: the NVGA officially changed its name to the
National Career Development Association
(NCDA)

Stage 8: 1990-Present
 School-to-work (STW) transition
 Increasing diversity in the workplace
 Discrimination and sexual harassment

Stage 8: 1990-Present
 Aid to Families with Dependent Children
 Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS)
 School-to-Work Opportunity Act (STWOA)
 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
 Secretary’s Commission for Achieving Necessary
Skills (SCANS)

Stage 8: 1990-2005
 Revision of many theories
 e.g
, examination of TWA and Holland’s Theory
• Multicultural contributions
 Contextual understanding of career choice
 Blustein and Spengler’s (1995) Domain-Sensitive
Approach
 Gysbers and Moore’s (1973) Life Career
Development theory

Stage 9: The Present
 World and Work Environment changing rapidly
 International economy and recession
 Downsizing, specialization, outsourcing, and increased use of temporary labor
 Assessment of measures across cultural groups
 World Wide Web and new ethical challenges
 Advocacy

Stage 9: The present
 Cultural formulation approach
 Happenstance Theory
 Emancipatory communitarian approach
 Other theories related to diversity
 “Voids in legislation”
 Joint symposiums – IAEVG-SVP-NCDA

References
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979).
The Ecology of Human Development:
Experiments by Nature and Design . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
Krumboltz, J.D. (1979). A social learning theory of career decision making.
In A.M. Mitchell, G.B. Jones, & J.D. Krumboltz (Eds.), Social learning and career decision making (pp. 19-49). Cranston, RI: Carroll Press.
Super, D.E. (1953). A theory of vocational development. American
Psychologist, 8, 185-190.Von Bertalanffy, L. (1968). General systems theory: Foundation, development, application.
New York: Braziller.