Understanding Careers

"Kerr Inkson has made a really valuable contribution. A powerful illustration of how metaphor influences thinking about careers. The book shows how metaphor helps us to understand our own thought-patterns and predispositions and is very effective in integrating the different branches of career studies Very clear, and well argued. Right on the mark!"

--Gareth Morgan, Author, Images of Organization, Distinguished Research Professor, York University, Toronto

Understanding Careers: The Metaphors of Working Lives uses a unique framework of nine archetypal metaphors to encapsulate the field of career studies. Using an easy-to-read style, author Kerr Inkson examines key concepts, illustrating them with over 50 authentic career cases, to build an excellent bridge between theory and "real life."

Key Features: 




Provides comprehensive coverage of contemporary theory and research: Offering a wider perspective on the subject than any other book currently on the market, Understanding Careers includes material from various viewpoints relevant to career studies, including sociology, life-span psychology, differential psychology, social psychology, education, career development, counseling, organizational behavior, and human resource management. In addition, the book covers the key theories and researchers who have shaped the study and practice of careers.
Uses metaphor for imaginative coverage: By successively considering the career successively as an inheritance, a cycle, an action, a journey, a role, a relationship, a resource, and a story, the authors view careers through different lenses, with each adding to the richness of the concept.
Presents illustrative case studies: With over 50 provocative case studies, including some of well-known personalities, theory is illustrated through real-life examples.
Offers an ongoing student case-study project: A sequenced career case-study write-up, with exercises related to each chapter, allows students to apply book concepts to ongoing cases of their own.
Includes an Instructor′s Manual on CD: providing PowerPoint slides, class exercises, and worked-through case studies. (Available by request to SAGE customer service.)

Intended Audience: This is an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in Career Development, Personal & Career Development, and Career Management in the fields of psychology, education, and business.