The Psychology of Working: A New Framework for Counseling Practice and Public Policy (Articles) (Report‪)‬

The authors present the psychology of-working perspective (D. L. Blustcin, 2006: N. Peterson & R. C. Gonzalez, 2005; M. S. Richardson, 1993) as an alternative to traditional career development theories, which hove primarily explored the lives of those with choice and volition in their working lives. The major historical and conceptual features of the psychology of working are reviewed, with a focus on how this framework provides a more inclusive and, ideally, more just vision for the career counseling field. Implications for career counseling and a case presentation are provided to examine how this new perspective can inform counseling practice. A brief overview of public policy implications concludes the article. The psychbology-of-working perspective (Biustein, 2006) was developed in response to a clear need within the field of career counseling to address the lives of those who traditionally have been ignored or forgotten because of their social class or as a result of racism and other forms of social oppression (based on disability status, sexual orientation, immigration status, age, gender, poverty, and/or lack of access to material and social resources and opportunities). Although significant theoretical and research efforts have provided us, as career counselors, with a rich, dynamic, and insightful understanding of career-related processes and experiences (Brown, 2002; Lent, Brown, & Hackctt, 2002; Savickas, 1996), our field lacks a means for an in-depth exploration of the lives of those for whom work serves more as a means of survival than an expression of talents and personality.