We live in
a vastly interconnected world. Centuries ago rulers sought to create empires
and unite people under one society. Under presidents T. Roosevelt, Taft, and
Wilson, America pushed toward creating an American empire. The large businesses
during this period began to outsource jobs to other countries, thus beginning
the economic milieu we live in today with a globalized economic marketplace
(Brown, 2012).
There are
benefits and drawbacks to having such an interconnected world. The benefits
include greater awareness and meeting of cultures and societies that build
relationships and allow synthesis, which encourages innovation and growth.
However, the drawback to this growth is when one country fails everyone else is
pulled down with them. In Europe, for
example, since most countries have a common currency (the Euro), when one
country starts to fail, the worth of the Euro drops and affects other
countries.
With the
dialectic between the benefits and drawbacks to interconnectedness, there is a
similar corollary with political systems. When the economy is booming there is
a swing towards liberalism, socialism and communism. The idea is there is a lot
of wealth, and with wealth comes suffering so wealth should be used to
alleviate this suffering. However, the unemployment rates start rising,
suddenly there is a rise in radical conservative ideology. They want to keep
immigrants out, to deregulate the marketplace and stop social welfare programs.
In Greece today there is a rise in a party similar to the Nazi party of the 30s
called Golden Dawn, which espouses rather extreme opinions on immigrants and
race.
When
considering career development it’s difficult not to get into this conversation
because counselors advise individuals on how best they will survive and
flourish in these systems. In our country for the past few decades there has
been a growing schism between the movements of liberalism (which has been
called communism by members of the right, much to the protest of actual
communists and Marxists) and conservatism. The gap between the rich and poor
has been growing and the middle class has been in decline. Though this is
fodder for political rhetoric, real people are affected when having a job no
longer guarantees a happy, middle class “American dream-like” existence. As
Brown (2012) states “It is entirely possible to have a job and perhaps more
than one full-time job and be among the working poor depending on the number of
family members, the cost of housing, and a variety of other factors” (p. 9).
I think the
take away message from this chapter is that we can’t look at an individual’s
hopes and dreams in a vacuum and recommend a sensible course of action without
also looking at the environment they live in and their background. Though many
people in this class may not have strong political opinions, it’s important to
cultivate a political identity and sense of ideology to engage with clients or
children that will have to enter this confusing and turbulent working
environment.
Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10th ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment