This overview of the impact of cultural and social influences on career guidance has highlighted both commonalities and uniquenesses evident from contemporary reports on guidance practices around the world. Emphasis was placed on the critical importance of the socialization process on career development with a discussion of familial, social class, and sex-role stereotyping influences in many countries of the world. Recognition was also given to the impact of political ideologies on programs of career guidance, to the school as a reflection of dominant societal values, and to social change as a catalyst for career guidance programs.Culture is usually considered to include the common aspects of the behavior of people who live together in a specific society. These common aspects are the mutually expected behavior patterns that emerge from the interaction of the people in a particular social system.To gain an understanding of the essential nature of culture, it is necessary to recognize that culture itself embodies a series of paradoxes. Years ago, Herskovits (1956:18) delineated the paradoxial nature of culture when he stated:1. Culture is universal in man's experience, yet each local or regional manifestation of it is unique. 2. Culture is stable, yet culture is also dynamic, and manifests continuous and constant change. 3. Culture fills and largely determines the course of our lives, yet rarely intrudes into conscious thought.