Social constructionism in the study of career: Accessing the parts that other approaches cannot reach

How do male managers narrate their female spouse ' s role in their career?

“…Thus, the relationship between the individual and society is seen as dialectical, and humans are both products and producers of the social world (Berger & Luckmann, 1966). Depending on people's personal background, family characteristics, previous experiences, environmental contexts, and so on, they tend to construct the world differently, with the result that meanings differ across cultures and context (Stead, 2004;Cohen et al, 2004).…”

“…The importance of social constructionism for this study comes from the idea that a career represents a unique interaction of the self and social experience (Scott, 1991): careers are seen as time and space-specific, interwoven with an individual's life (families, organizations and societies). Social constructionism is concerned with how the individual constructs not only her/himself, but also society and the social order (Young & Collin, 2004;Cohen et al, 2004). Burr (1995) claims that the advantages of using a social constructionist view are that it persuades one to challenge conventional and taken-for-granted understandings and helps to outline knowledge as culturally, historically specific; it also leads one to see that knowledge is sustained by social processes and versions of reality are created 37 and recreated through social practice as language by people.…”

“…These narratives help people to identify and make clear their experiences to themselves but also to others (Bruner, 1986(Bruner, , 1991Ricoeur, 1984Ricoeur, , 1991Polkinghorne, 1995). When the managers talk about their careers in the form of a narrative as a temporal and plotted construction (Cohen et al, 2004), the managers make sense, reflect and simultaneously interpret their own career history and other aspects of life, such as their spouse, in relation to that.…”

“…It is already an important contribution to the field to bring out the views and voices of both genders, and particularly the male perspective, where work-family integration is concerned (Daly, Ashbourne & Hawkins, 2008). Added to this, its gender aspects contribute to the recent stream of narrative research in the field of careers (Cohen & Mallon, 2001;Cohen et al, 2004;Savickas et al, 2009;Lee et al, 2011), and have made it possible to understand the matters that managers are making meaningful in decisions concerning their careers and spouses, and the choices and adjustments are made together with them. Thus, the study has captured how a career is constructed by a manager with adjustments and synergies in different working life and family situations throughout life.…”

What makes a career barrier a barrier?

“…Because women"s experience of career differs from men"s (Gallos, 1989;Marshall, 1989) and because much existing career theory and research assumes a normative career path that is more relevant to men than women (Cohen, Duberley & Mallon, 2004;Fitzgerald & Harmon, 2001), we chose women participants. The experiences of a less-studied group are of interest in their own right and can provide additional insights into the moreresearched groups.…”