Exploring the value of the sociological Careership Theory in the South African TVET context

Abstract

Making a career decision is an important part of life. A plethora of theories seek to understand the way students make career decisions, most of them found in the field of psychology. The same trend is evident in South Africa, where psychology continues to underpin career guidance and counselling practices. While this is useful, it is equally important to consider different theoretical approaches – for example, the sociological approach. This article is inspired by a doctoral study conducted by one of the authors, and aims to bring to light a less dominant theory that can add value to our understanding of career decision-making, especially in the public Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college sector. The main argument of the article is that whereas all theories are important and valuable, no single theory can explain all situations and individual circumstances. Each theory is guided by its perspective and covers some issues while neglecting others. Indeed, a theory that seeks to explain everything is likely to be found wanting. We therefore do not discredit any theory, but seek to add the voice of the sociological Careership Theory to existing debates and conversations about career decision-making. Our special interest is in the public TVET college sector as we have noted an almost complete absence of literature on career decision-making by TVET students. There is, however, literature that looks at why students enrol in public TVET colleges, and also their experiences there. In addition to the original conceptualisation of the Careership Theory, this article adds other conceptual tools associated with the work of Appadurai. We do so because we acknowledge that a theory cannot remain static and that, as the social world changes, so must theories if they are to accommodate new social experiences.

Careership: The experiences of women in choosing career paths in TVET in South Africa

“…The study was exploratory because there has not been research in public TVET colleges that focuses on career decision-making, so the study sought to explore this area along with a potential theory -careership. Also, the careership theory is neither popular nor dominant (Maluleke et al, 2022;Powell, 2014); hence, it was explored in this study.…”

“…This study is framed within careership theory, a sociological theory examining the social, economic, cultural, political and other environmental factors influencing young people's lives and career choices (Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1997;Maluleke et al, 2022). The fundamental idea in careership theory is that young people make career decisions concerning their fields depending on available resources and their socialisation https://ajcd.africa Open Access (Lindblad & Lundahl, 2020;Maluleke, 2022).…”

“…Also, the theory must be read in conjunction with Bourdieu's social theory. Concerning these inequalities, recent literature has shown that the careership theory remains powerful in explaining the South African situation of gender and racial inequality (Maluleke, 2022;Maluleke et al, 2022). To achieve such an understanding, the authors argue that the theory must be contextualised critically (Maluleke et al, 2022).…”

Editorial

“…In an attempt to extend the more familiar structure-agency debates that explain the ways affected individuals use agency to navigate structures, the authors use 'Careership Theory' as adopted by Appadurai (2004). This theory argues that social agents need 'cultural, economic, and social capital' (Golding, 2013, cited by Maluleke et al, 2022) to exercise their 'capacity to aspire'. Here one can perceive strains of the 'community cultural wealth' theory expounded by Esau and Daniels in the article referred to above, in that individuals' aspirations are understood to result not only from their own choices, but as a result of their social interactions with others (the 'funds' that they draw on).…”