Blog 2: Chp 2 and Gibson article

First, I want to touch on what Brown says, “No perfect theory of career choice has yet to emerge and it is unlikely that this will occur” (Brown, 2012, p. 17).  This statement is profound, essential, and a bit negative.  As we study career development in this course it is important to keep in mind that any theory involving career choice surely as weaknesses.  Thus, as professionals whom come into contact with career development, it is priority to understand the theories (their strengths and weaknesses) in order to best apply them to everyday life.  In addition, it is beneficial to possibly combine theories and use them for a person to create a more complete picture of possible career choices. Furthermore, Brown’s statement gives attention to the fact that there needs to be more research done career choice and career development.

The genogram would be a great introduction into career development for the trait-and-factor theories (Gibson, 2005; Brown, 2012).  Specifically, Gibson (2005) explains how to proceed with the genogram in a discussion form with students.  Asking a student if he or she is interested in any of the careers in their genogram links to what their interests are, and lends some insight into their personality type.  Thus, Holland would agree with the use of genograms in career development.  Because the genogram explores people and their occupations, a youngster could make some connections to family member’s personalities and the career they choose, and how that either matches or does not match themselves.  However, this would depend on the age of the child, how well the child knows the individuals in the genogram, and how much he or she is aware of their own personality compared to that of their family.  

The weakness of Holland’s theory is that the personality inventory would not be applicable at all stages of life.   Elementary and even middle school adolescents do not readily have a personality that is stable or well-defined like a high school student or young adult.

Development theories in this chapter were dominated by Super and Gottfredson (Brown, 2012).  Overall, Super’s theory is extensive and complex. The propositions in Super’s theory did get somewhat repetitive; however, it attempts to categorize the stages of life much like Gibson (2005) does in her article on genograms (Brown, 2012).  One of the strengths in using genograms in career development is that it is accessible at all stages of life (Gibson, 2005).  Super’s theory encompasses the exploratory stage, establishment stage, maintenance stage, and decline stage (Brown, 2012).  He is acknowledging that throughout our lifespan we change, as well as, our interests and career choices.  Gibson (2005) gives the different stages of life (grade, middle, and high school) different directions and goals in the use of a genogram.   Moreover, she acknowledges the changes that occur throughout life by asking students who have completed a genogram in elementary school to return to that genogram and make the appropriate changes.  This creates a discussion of career choice and development and how the family member’s decisions have affected the child (Gibson, 2005).

Lastly, Gottfredson’s theory is comparable to Super’s theory in that they both discuss self-concept, interests, skills, and aptitudes, and acknowledge differing stage in one’s life (Brown, 2012).  Gottfredson’s theory diverges when she emphasizes sex prestige and the sex stereotyping of occupations.  She gives a lot of attention to social injustice in her theory by expanding on people making compromises in their career choices (Brown, 2012).  Gottfredson may be surprised then, that adolescents identify less with their father’s occupation than with their mother’s occupation (Gibson, 2005).  However, the genogram asks students to categorize family members by putting a square for males and a circle for females (Gibson, 2005).  Is this just a way of organizing the genogram?  Is there a benefit to making gender salient?  How would this effect a child with a transgender parent or family member? Gottfredson may think that placing family members in a circle or square only perpetuates the stereotypes of sex-type jobs or she may argue that the genogram provides a platform for children to acknowledge the oppression and break the stereotypes by exploring jobs of the opposite sex.

Brown, D. (2012).  Career information, career counseling, and career development (10th ed.).  New York:  Pearson Education, Inc.

Gibson, D. M. (2005). The use of genograms in career counseling with elementary, middle and high school students. The Career Development Quarterly, 53, 353-362.