Pride and Prejudice: How do they matter to career development? · The publication of Pride and prejudice: How do they matter to career development?has been sponsored by Ufi learndirect

OCCASIONALPAPER

Pride and Prejudice:How do they matterto careerdevelopment?

University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby, DE22 1GBTel: 01332 591267 Fax: 01332 597726Website: http://www.derby.ac.uk/cegs/

Dr Gideon Arulmani

Director, The Promise Foundation, Bangalore

Pride and Prejudice: How do they matter to career development?OCCASIONAL

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This paper examines the impact of occupational pride and prejudice on the emergence of varyingorientations to work, career and livelihoods and the implications this has for careers research andthe practice of career counselling in a rapidly globalising world. Dr Gideon Arulmani considerskey issues to understanding barriers to inclusion, including the mindsets, attitudes and beliefsprevalent within cultures that differentially influence career choice. This publication is atranscript of the lecture given by Dr Arulmani in December 2006 for the Centre for GuidanceStudies' 9th Annual Lecture at the University of Derby.

Dr Gideon Arulmani is a Clinical Psychologist and international expert on the multiculturalaspects of career choice. He has worked in the field of Career Psychology for 12 years. He holdsan M.Phil degree in Medical and Social Psychology as well as a doctoral degree in the field fromthe University of Portsmouth. Dr Arulmani's observations in the United Kingdom, as well inother European and Scandinavian countries, have consistently pointed to an apparent difference inthe career counselling needs of the 'natives' of these countries and those who have come fromoutside. It seems possible that socio-cultural influences in the form of mindsets prevailing at'home' continue to influence migrants' career preparation behaviour, even as they build their livesin their adopted countries.

Acknowledgements

The publication of Pride and prejudice: How do they matter to career development? has beensponsored by Ufi learndirect advice. CeGS is also grateful to Morley Hayes for their support ofthe Annual Lecture event.

The Centre for Guidance Studies (CeGS) is owned by the University of Derby. The Centre aimsto bridge the gap between guidance theory and practice. It supports and connects guidancepractitioners, policy-makers and researchers through research activities and learningopportunities, and by providing access to resources related to guidance and lifelong learning.

Further copies of this paper are available from the Centre for Guidance Studies or can bedownloaded from the CeGS website at www.derby.ac.uk/cegs

Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby, Research and Knowledge Transfer Unit,Faculty of Education, Health and Sciences, Kedleston Road, Derby, DE22 1GBTel: 01332 591267Fax: 01332 597726Email: [email protected] Director: Deirdre Hughes

ISBN 0 901437 79 4 © CeGS, 2007


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1. Introduction

1.1. 'I am confused. What is the meaning of career?'

The first time I presented the idea of career guidanceand counselling at an important gathering was to anational curriculum reform committee in India. Afterhaving worked in this field for almost 10 years, makinglittle impact at the level of national policy, I wasexcited by the prospect of being able at last to presentthe concept of career guidance and counselling to sucha forum. I spoke about self-understanding, makinglinkages to the world of work, developing careeralternatives and career planning. I thought it was quitea good presentation! The response to the paperhowever was startling and unexpected. My ideas werecriticised as being simplistic, mechanistic and linear.Worst of all career guidance was written off as beingtoo 'western'. Hardly anyone thought what I had beendoing with many thousands of young people over theprevious 10 years had any real relevance to the Indiansituation. My initial reaction was one of irritation sinceI construed these responses to be a misinterpretation ofwhat I was saying and a blind 'trashing of everythingwestern', as has become so fashionable these days. Butthe experience proved to be a turning point in mythinking about career guidance for the developingworld. One question, or rather the manner in which thequestion was raised at this meeting opened my eyes tothe deeper issues at hand. It came from a young youthworker, who from the back of the room asked: 'Sir, I amconfused. What is the meaning of the word “career”?'The reason this question struck me was not onlybecause of its very fundamental nature, but becausealthough the young man spoke in Hindi (the localvernacular) he used the English word 'career' in hisquestion. I realised then, that most Indian languages(and have subsequently realised that indeed most Asianlanguages) do not have a word for the term 'career'.Examples of the closest equivalents are 'work', 'job' and'occupation'. Ever since, I have tried to listen morekeenly to what the common person (our client) saysabout work. Here are examples of what I have heard:

'As long as there are fish in the sea, there is noneed to think of any other job' (Fisherman,Kudahuvadoo Island, Republic of Maldives).

'My mother says my future is bad, because of thetribe we belong to' (Adolescent, survivor of thegenocide, Ruhengeri, Rwanda).

'I am a maistry. I learned this job without goingto school. Why should my son go to school'(Self-taught mason, Pondicherry, India).

'I want to be a police officer. But I can't.Because my mother says it is not a job for a girl'( High School student, Bangalore, India).

'I must take up science. That's what you muststudy if you are intelligent. Then I must becomea doctor or engineer and bring honour to myfamily' (High school student, Bangalore, India).

Embedded in these statements are reflections ofprevailing philosophies, socio-economicinfluences, political factors, social practices andsanctions, all working together to mouldattitudes and mind-sets toward work – that mostfundamental of human preoccupations.

1.2. Orientations to work and career

The notion of a personal career emerged as a responseto needs expressed within western, industrialisedculture. This specific expression of human workbehaviour appeared at a time in history whenapproaches to work in the west had been transformedby powerful movements such as the ProtestantReformation and the Industrial Revolution. Bycontrast, the idea of choosing a personal career was notintrinsic to the cultural and economic environment thatprevailed in non-western contexts, at that time inhistory. Today however, against the background ofwesternisation, industrialisation and now globalisation,the situation is quite different. With the rapid breakingdown of older social mechanisms for occupational roleallocation, questions surrounding career choices,decision-making and career preparation have become areality in the developing world as well. The factremains though that career development occurs in avery different manner in these contexts and isinfluenced by distinctive factors that are specific tothese situations.

These differences in orientations to work are thecontemporary challenges that confront careercounsellors and workforce development specialists.And today, these challenges manifest themselves bothat the local and global level. At the local level, it isvital that the idea of a career is contextualised andwoven into the broader socio-cultural fabric that shapesorientations to work. At the global level, an importantdevelopment is the emergence of multiculturalsocieties. Non-western families have made westerncountries their homes, their places of work and thecontext for their career development. In our attempts tosupport the career development of these individuals, itis vital to remember that just as the Protestant workethic forged work behaviour in the west, sophilosophies of the past have had a definitive influenceon attitudes toward work in other socio-culturalenvironments. Such mind-sets prevailing at 'home'


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could continue to influence immigrants' careerpreparation behaviour, even as they build their lives intheir adopted countries.

1.3. Scope of this paper

The edifice of career developmental theory rests onobservations made in western (mainly white middle-class) cultures. However, the validity of using existingformulations to understand and explain the careerbehaviour of other cultural groups is not established(e.g. Arulmani, 2000; Watson, 2004). The need toexamine and describe career development as it occursin non-western contexts is an urgent one. To this endthrough our work at The Promise Foundation, we haveover the last few years attempted to identify factors thatcould inform the discipline of career psychology andbroaden its knowledge base.

I will in the following section present two constructs –namely, social-cognitive environments and careerbeliefs – that we have identified through our researchand field experience in the Asian context. Thesenotions could have implications for research, practiceand policy action in a world that is becomingincreasingly multicultural. Keeping in mind the issuesof cultural diversity that surround career counsellingtoday, these concepts will be discussed through a cross-cultural analysis of two Asian contexts, drawing fromour experiences in India and, most recently, theRepublic of Maldives. The paper will then present as acase study, a currently ongoing programme in theMaldives that attempts to create a contextually relevantplatform for the introduction of a national careerguidance and counselling system.

2. Social-cognitive environments

As with other human activities work occurs within asocial context – a context characterised by patterns ofbeliefs and ways of thinking. This influence of themind on behaviour is particularly significant whenentire societies think in a particular manner, internalisebelief structures and demonstrate certain mindsets.Albert Bandura (1989) uses the term social cognitionsto describe patterns of thinking that have becomehabitual across social groups. Social cognitions arepatterns of beliefs that exist within a community andguide the behaviour of the individuals in thatcommunity. Arbib & Hesse (1986) point out thatbeliefs held by the individuals of a community maycohere into a pattern of commonly held cognitionscharacterising an entire community or social group.Even if these belief structures may not be internalisedwithin the minds of single individuals, they areembedded in the relational process of social exchanges.

Social cognitions seem to play a powerful andsignificant role in orientations to work as well. Mind-sets engendered by social and moral frames ofreference give a particular colouring and interpretationto the meaning and purpose of work. We haveextended the notion of social cognitions and proposethat prevailing ideologies and the experiences of acommunity create social-cognitive environments.Within these environments, values (positive, neutral ornegative) could be attributed to work in general as wellas toward particular occupational clusters.

We have further postulated that social-cognitiveenvironments foster the evolution of a work ethic: a setof social norms that describe a particular approach andattitude to work. For example, a certain work ethicmay place a positive moral value on hard work basedon the belief that work has innate worth and must bepursued for its own sake. Similarly another social-cognitive environment may promote a work ethicwherein factors such as social class, religion or castemay engender the firm belief that certain kinds ofoccupations are 'unworthy' of being considered. Awork ethic, as referred to here, is thus a collection ofsocial cognitions about work, which guide andinfluence people's work behaviour.

Cognitions and beliefs arise from a reciprocalinteraction between the individual and his or herenvironment. The collectivistic nature of Asian culturesbrings distinctive characteristics to these social-cognitive environments. Career planning in India is nota purely individualistic effort and beliefs and valuesheld by the community can play a significant role in thecareer decision-making process. It is becomingincreasingly clear that career development is not merelya function of the maturation and unfolding of personalinterests and aptitudes or of the crystallisation ofpersonal identities. Personal attributes unfold within acertain social-cognitive environment. Thecharacteristics of this environment influence the mannerin which personal attributes are linked to careerdevelopment.

Our attempts at understanding social-cognitiveenvironments have helped us clarify the real meaningof career development in the developing-world contextand have provided useful guidelines for thedevelopment of services that are better rooted incontextual realities.

3. Career beliefs

We have tried to examine the interaction betweensocial-cognitive environments and orientations to workand career by focussing our attention on a specific kindof social cognition: namely, career beliefs. JohnKrumboltz, when he initially introduced this idea,

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pointed out that people make many assumptions andgeneralisations about themselves and the world of workbased on their experiences. Beliefs can become sodeeply ingrained that they may not even be identifiedby their holders as beliefs – they are more likeunquestioned, self-evident truths. Whether accurate ornot, career beliefs exert facilitative or inhibitiveinfluences on individuals decisions and actions as theyattempt to develop and implement career goals(Krumboltz, 1979; 1994). These patterns of thinkingmay or may not be grounded in rationality. Yet theypredispose the individual to making career decisions ina certain manner.

We have tried to explore career beliefs further. Ourinitial observations have shown that a conglomerate ofattitudes, opinions, convictions and notions seem tocohere together to create mind-sets and beliefs thatunderlie people's orientation to the idea of a career.The examples from three different cultural contextscited at the beginning of this paper offer insights intohow community-held career beliefs could influence thecareer development of the young within thatcommunity. It appeared from our field experiences thatthe impact of career beliefs on the career developmentprocess was marked and critical (Arulmani, 2000;Arulmani & Nag-Arulmani, 2004). Over the last fewyears we have therefore attempted to study theconstruct more systematically, and have investigated thepossibility that certain kinds of social-cognitiveenvironments foster certain kinds of career beliefs. Ourmethods have included both qualitative and quantitativeapproaches that have collected data throughquestionnaires and focus-group discussions as well asintervention studies. Our analysis has consistentlythrown up three kinds of career beliefs that seem tointerlock with career development, which I would liketo describe briefly in the context of India and theMaldives.

3.1. The matter of education: proficiency beliefs

A consistent career belief theme that influences thenature of career preparation is the importance laid onacquiring qualifications, skills and personal proficiencyfor an occupation. It may seem obvious to some thatacquiring qualifications and developing proficiency fora specific range of work skills is necessary for careerdevelopment. In reality however, there seems to bewide variability in the manner in which social-cognitiveenvironments actually nurture this attitude. Forexample, in certain Indian contexts, a lower emphasis islaid on acquiring work-skills proficiencies. Ourresearch has found this to be particularly true for socio-economically vulnerable groups (Arulmani, Van Laar &Easton, 2001). The lower emphasis on acquiring work-skills proficiencies could be the result of the highdegree of pressure on the economically disadvantaged

to have their children begin earning for survival.Conversely, the typical Indian middle-class familyplaces an extraordinarily high value on acquiringqualifications. Great efforts and significant familyresources are directed toward ensuring that the childrenin the family are 'properly qualified'.

There is a twist in the tale here that is interesting. Wefound in a recently concluded survey which weconducted in twelve different parts of India (Arulmani& Nag, 2006) that if given a choice and the necessarysupport, families from lower-income homes would begrateful for their children to acquire any kind ofqualification. In contrast, middle and upper middle-class families were strongly pre-occupied by theprestige attributes that surround further education.Vocationally oriented courses were attributed low levelsof prestige, while obtaining a college degree was a'must' for any middle class young person. It was alsoobserved that a large percentage of the middle-classgroups linked no specific career goals to going tocollege other than 'I must have a degree'. The impact ofprestige was such that a large number of middle andupper middle-class participants in this survey intendedto pursue college education, even if this did not lead todirect employment.

Proficiency beliefs in the Maldives closely approximatethe attitudes seen amongst the higher socio-economicstatus groups in India. A high level of importance isattributed to education, and virtually all children are inschool, working toward high school and highersecondary certificates. Similar to the Indian situation,however, attitudes of pride and prejudice were stronglyevident in the type of further education that wasconsidered acceptable. Our surveys revealed thatvocational courses were looked down upon, and post-school training that offered opportunities for vocationalskills development was not much sought after(Arulmani, 2004). These prejudices were so strong thatyoung people preferred to remain unoccupied ratherthan taking up vocational courses to pursue vocationalcareers.

Proficiency career beliefs have their obvious corollariesto career preferences. While certain social-cognitiveenvironments leave the young person open (andgrateful) for any kind of job, other social-cognitiveenvironments foster career beliefs that restrict theyoung person's orientations to certain groups of careeroptions.

3.2. Taking charge: control and self-direction beliefs

Situations and experiences influence the direction thatone's life can take. This category of beliefs reflects theindividual's sense of control over the trajectory of his orher life. Mind-sets in this category are linked to the

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career aspirant's belief that he or she could deal withthe exigencies presented by life situations and theorientation to direct and take charge of the way inwhich his or her life progresses.

Here again the influence of social-cognitiveenvironments is significant. In the Indian situation,young people from economically disadvantagedbackgrounds demonstrated a lower orientation toexercising control over the trajectory of their lives.Their responses reflected helplessness in the face ofbarriers to career development, with a tendency to viewthe future in terms of the deprivations they wereexperiencing in their present situation. The higher-income groups, on the other hand, showed a strongerorientation to creating opportunities for themselves andhigh motivation to actively engage with careerdevelopment tasks.

Control and self-direction beliefs among Maldivianyoung people and their families showed interestingvariations. This is a country where job provision hasbeen a state responsibility for many years. Youngpeople who did reasonably well at the high school levelwere, until recently, almost automatically absorbed bythe government. Our assessments of attitudes towardwork in this environment indicated that finding a jobwas not perceived as a personal responsibility(Arulmani, 2004). Young people's motivation to createopportunities for themselves and engage with careerdevelopment tasks was weak. When faced with this lifedevelopment task, Maldivian young people typicallydemonstrated a tendency to rely heavily on someoneelse (e.g. parents, government) to get them a job.Unlike the Indian situation, low motivation to engagewith career development tasks did not seem to bemediated by social class and was found to be quitewidespread across a broad cross-section of youngpeople and their families in the Maldives.

3.3. Fighting the odds: persistence beliefs

Successful career development requires the individualto face and attempt to overcome difficulties and hurdlesthat punctuate progress toward a career goal. The thirdcategory of mind-sets toward career developmentextracted by our analysis, describes beliefs that fosterpersistence toward career goals despite difficulties andbarriers that could emerge during the process of careerpreparation. Beliefs within this category reflect theresolve to persevere with determination toward careergoals.

Once again, we have found that the social-cognitiveenvironment that the individual was a part of colouredthe quality of persistence. Persistence amongst youngpeople from disadvantaged homes in India was lower

and less consistent. Their responses reflected a strongpredisposition to sacrificing long-term gains for moreimmediate benefits in the here and now. If a career isto become a reality for an Indian young person from apoor home he or she would be required to make careerplans, while simultaneously grappling with poverty,unstable family structures, inaccessible institutionalsupport and financial constraints. Planning for whatcould come to fruition only sometime in the future maynot be consistent with the reality perceptions of theyoung person from such a background. The middle-class groups, on the other hand, demonstrated a higherdegree of persistence. Their responses reflected a long-term orientation to the future, with evidence ofplanning, setting goals and preparing for their future.

Trends similar to the Indian disadvantaged context werealso seen in the Maldives. This difference, however,did not seem to be linked as much to survival issues. Inthe Maldivian context, the young person was cushionedby highly supportive parents and families and, untilrecently, a government that took responsibility foremployment-provision. The young person was shieldedfrom the realities of being unemployed in the long term.Their orientation to time was closer to the here andnow, and their responses did not reflect a long-termorientation to the future. As a result, the overarchingattitude toward career development amongst youngpeople was one of apathy and indifference. Thetendency to give up when difficulties arose, either whensearching for a job or when performing the duties of aparticular job, were markedly high (Arulmani, 2004).

Career belief themes vary across age groups, socio-economic status and cultural environments. Theforegoing discussion of three such themes has served toillustrate how attitudes of pride and prejudice couldinfluence career development. Our experience hasconsistently demonstrated that the outcomes of careercounselling were often rendered meaningless whenprevailing career beliefs were left unaddressed. Thenotion of social-cognitive environments and the careerbeliefs they engender have given us a useful frameworkwithin which to understand career development and toplan interventions that are contextually relevant.

4. Pride and Prejudice: how to they matter to careerdevelopment?

This paper has attempted to articulate the interactionsbetween social cognitions and orientations to work andcareer development. I would now like to highlightthree applicational issues that could have relevance toresearchers, practitioners and policy makers.

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4.1. The multicultural context

As stated earlier, patterns of immigration over manydecades and the forces of globalisation over the recentpast have led to multicultural societies becoming astrongly present reality today. This has increased thelikelihood of the counsellor and counselee coming fromdiffering social-cognitive environments, eachinfluenced and guided by their own career beliefs. It isessential in such situations that counsellors areparticularly sensitive to attitudes of pride and prejudice(their own as well as those of their clients), that couldinfluence the career counselling process. Let meillustrate with examples of differences in world-viewsthat have been documented by other researchers aswell.

Career beliefs held by Asians tend to reflect strongerfamily and community orientations, with a preferencefor co-operative decision-making (e.g. Arulmani, 2000;Peng, 2004). In contrast, European-Americanorientations have been described to tend more towardindividualism and competition (e.g. Lightbody,Nicholson, Siann & Walsh, 1997).

Another difference is the narrowing of career choicesby Asian groups to a select group of occupationalcategories. For example, career preferences in Indiatend to be restricted by beliefs about the 'value' of acareer. As a result, certain careers are perceived as'good' careers (e.g. Arulmani, van Laar & Easton,2001). American research has also found that AsianAmericans are relatively more restricted in theirapproach to career choice and tend to pursue a limitedrange of occupations (e.g. Tang, Fouad & Smith, 1999).Beliefs about prestige and respectability play apowerful role amongst Asian families (e.g. Desai &Whiteside, 2000). Studies in the United Kingdom (e.g.Lightbody, Nicholson, Siann & Walsh, 1997) also foundbeliefs about the respectability of a career to have astronger influence on Asian career choosers than onthose of British origin.

A striking example of these biases is the report of anattempt to examine the cross-cultural validity ofHolland's theory (Leong, Austin, Sekaran & Komarraju,1998). These researchers found that the VocationalPreference Inventory could not be directly adapted tothe Indian context. This was mainly because many ofthe participants in the study would not complete theVPI, since it included occupations that they consideredtoo low in the caste system for them to even consider.It is essential that career psychologists and counsellorsworking in multicultural contexts are aware of theforceful role played by the community in the life of theindividual in many eastern and developing worldcultures. Attitudes of pride and prejudice that colour

orientations to work and career development could bepassed from one generation to the next, giving rise tocareer decision-making behaviours that are based on astructure of strongly-held beliefs validated by thecommunity. My occasional observations of careercounselling interactions with British youth of Asianorigin is that, although these young people have grownup in Britain, the final decision is often made by thefamily rather than the individual. It is vital thereforethat counsellors are sensitive to the role that thecommunity and the family can play in the careerdecision-making process of a young person.

Having said this, I present for consideration theproposition that the notion of social-cognitiveenvironments and career beliefs need not be restrictedto multicultural contexts alone. A deeper understandingof social-cognitive environments, irrespective of theirgeographical locations or cultural contexts, would offervaluable guidelines for career counsellors andworkforce development specialists. Culturally rootedcareer beliefs are not artefacts that only embellish theexotic east. The possibility of similar influences withinwestern cultures is worth investigating. It is possible,for example, that specific attitudes of pride andprejudice toward career development characteriseBritish working- class families and that these mind-setsare different from other sections of British society. Wepostulate that beliefs pertaining to career choice andplanning are present in all families and communitiesand that the young person's orientation to furthereducation, job acquisition and to the future as a wholecould be influenced by these social cognitions.Becoming aware of and learning about these processescould sharpen career counselling's relevance to feltneeds.

4.2. Career preparation and re-preparation

Most of our discussion so far has focussed on theinteractions between social-cognitive environments andthe young person who is preparing to enter the world ofwork. Our most recent work (Arulmani, 2006) hasshown us that these ideas are also relevant to older age-groups. The nature of the world of work today is suchthat career preparation is no longer limited to thebeginning of one's career. The idea that a career is anine-to-five job, for life, is rapidly being replaced bycareer cycles that play out within a markedly shortertime-frame. As a result, retrenchment has become anincreasingly common fall out of globalisation. Whatare the characteristics of the social-cognitiveenvironment within families where erstwhile stablecareers have been disrupted? Do these experiencesengender attitudes of pride and prejudice which affectwork orientations? There is of course the psychologicalfall-out of job loss, that could affect a person's self-

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esteem and personal confidence. In addition, therecould be specific career development issues that comeinto the purview of the career counselling service.Helping an older worker cope with the trauma of jobloss, supporting his or her efforts at finding another job,and sometimes helping the individual accept a positionthat is lower than the previous one, are examples ofpresent-day issues that career counsellors are alreadydealing with. It is here that a deeper understanding ofsocial cognitions could further support the client whohas suffered a job loss and now has to re-prepare for acareer.

Let me use the framework of the three career beliefthemes discussed earlier to illustrate the possiblecognitions and mindsets that could attend the process ofpreparing for re-entry into the world of work. Therequirement to acquire new qualifications, perhaps inareas for which the client has no past experience, mayseem daunting to him or her and barriers related to theproficiency theme may manifest themselves.Contemporary working environments may seem too'new-fangled' for the older worker, and beliefs related tothe persistence theme may come into play. Therequirement to consider non-standard jobs, be moreflexible and take charge of career development maybring in barriers that originate from control and self-direction beliefs. This would be true particularly in thecase of Asian workers who see a 'permanent' job as asign of stability and achievement. In fact, the notion oflife-long learning, which has become such a buzz wordin the west, might be quite alien in the Asian context.Social cognitions in the Indian environment, forexample, would describe education as having beencompleted at a particular stage in one's life and careerdevelopment as belonging to another life stage. In-service training would be seen as the employer'sresponsibility and further education would typically beundertaken to secure promotions within the same careerpath. Self-directed efforts at continuing the process oflearning would be rare. In our training programmes,we have often observed a sense of bewilderment, and insome cases resentment, amongst mature workers whenthey are required to 'submit' themselves to the rigoursof continuing to be learners.

Attitudes of pride and prejudice affect the quality ofcareer preparation. Certain kinds of minds-sets couldeasily become barriers to ongoing career development.Other kinds of career beliefs could facilitate smooth re-entry and open the individual to new horizons. It ishere that the third applicational issue comes into focus:counsellor training.

4.3. Counsellor training

The discussion presented above argues that thatstrongly held beliefs (particularly when they couldextend to an entire community) play a significant rolein constraining or facilitating the expression of anaptitude or the realisation of an interest. Careerinterventions that focus on the more 'traditional'techniques such as aptitude testing and interest analysismay not address the felt needs of these client groups.The impact of career guidance may be maximised whentechniques that address underlying cognitions aboutcareer development are incorporated into thecounselling process. I will briefly outline examples oftwo core career counselling competencies that we haveintegrated into our training programmes.

The first relates to incorporating the family andcommunity into the career counselling interaction. As Ihave discussed, the dynamics of career decision-makingare not limited to interactions between counsellor andclient alone. Particularly in the case of Asian clients,the family and the larger community play a critical role,and the outcomes of counselling are often subject tothese processes. Skills to work with the leader of thecommunity within the context of the counselling needsof the community, for example, could go a long way inenhancing the effectiveness of the counsellinginteraction. Similarly, including parents in thecounselling process would ensure that the young personstill benefits from the collective wisdom of the familyand the community. I hasten to underline that theobjective of counselling here is not to 'liberate' theindividual from the family's wishes. Drawing theyoung person and the family into the career counsellingprocess may have a far more effective outcome thanfocusing on the individual alone. An effective careercounselling interaction would create an environmentwithin which the young person and his or her familycould consider career development in a collaborativemanner. The task before the career counsellor,therefore, is to facilitate a strengthening of familialbonds rather than allowing career decision-making toweaken these important ties between the individual andhis or her community.

The second competency relates to understanding social-cognitive environments and to eliciting and addressingcareer beliefs. We have developed both qualitative andquantitative techniques that are designed to help thecounsellor and the client gain deeper insights into thesocial-cognitive influences on orientations to work andcareer. The 'quantitative' techniques include structuredquestionnaires; the 'qualitative' approaches addressspecific interviewing skills. Counselling focuses onfacilitating insight into the kind of career beliefs thatare influencing both the client and the family and the

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potential impact these habitual ways of thinking couldhave on career planning. Counselling competenciesinclude skills to address conflicts between thefamily/community and the individual's career beliefs.In multicultural contexts these conflicts could belocated around differences of opinion between the clientand his or her family's career beliefs. For example, aBritish Asian young person might want to pursue acareer that the family believes is a 'low prestige' career.Career counselling challenges could also emerge inconflicts between the Asian family unit and socialcognitions common within the society of which theyare now a part. For example, deep-rooted prejudicesthat originate from religious beliefs and social customs(e.g. caste, interaction between genders) maypredispose certain kinds of clients to particularorientations to work and career development. Thecareer counsellor in such a context must be able torecognise these prejudices and then support clients asthey address these issues, facilitate considered decisionsand then help them take responsibility for theirdecisions.

5. Addressing career beliefs in the Republic ofMaldives: a case study

This paper has focused on attitudes and mind-setstoward career development and has tried to articulatehow pride and prejudice influence career development.It is well known, of course, that attitudes by their verynature are enduring and resistant to change. Achievingattitudinal change is easier said than done. Yet, asargued above, influences on career choices stem fromthese deep rooted stereotypes and mind-sets. Careercounselling that is not attuned to these forces could inthe final analysis be at high risk to fail.

I conclude this paper with a case study that presents anattempt to preface career counselling with a socialmarketing campaign designed to address specificattitudes of pride and prejudice in a small island nation,the Republic of Maldives. This programme is currentlyon going and I shall present our experiences in the firstphase.

5.1. Background

The Republic of the Maldives is a nation of peopleliving in an archipelago 820 kilometers long and 120kilometers wide in the Indian ocean. As of 2002,almost half of the population (46%) was less than 15years old. Twenty-seven percent of the population livesin the national capital island of Malé, while the rest liveon 198 inhabited islands.

The core objective of the project of which we are a partis to assist the Maldives make better use of its human

resources potential by increasing the number ofMaldivians actively participating in the labour force.With this in mind, the project is designed to provideemployment-oriented skills training in variousoccupations to make the prospective Maldivianemployee more attractive to the employer. Careerguidance and social marketing are positioned within theproject as mechanisms that will contribute to makingemployment-oriented training attractive to Maldivianyoung people.

5.2. Analysis of the social-cognitive environment

We conducted an initial study to assess the social-cognitive environment and identify the prevailingcareer beliefs within this society (Arulmani, 2004). Thethree career belief themes of proficiency, control/self-direction and persistence were used as the frameworkfor assessment. As described earlier in this paper, wefound that while an exceptionally high value wasplaced on education and on acquiring proficiencies andqualifications, the strength of this belief was notreflected along the two other belief themes. We noticedthat young people in the Maldives tended todemonstrate a lower orientation to exercising controlover the trajectory of their lives and that theirmotivation to create opportunities for themselves andengage with career development tasks was weak.Similarly, the resolve to persevere toward career goalswas also low. Responses reflected indifference and astrong tendency to give up in the face of barriers tocareer development. The motivation for self-directedjob search efforts was low. An overwhelmingly largenumber of young people in the study indicated that theyhad neither applied for a job nor had they made anycareer plans, even after two years of completing theirA-level studies. They were waiting on their islands tobe offered a job. Furthermore, there seemed to be astrong tendency toward rejecting jobs that wereperceived to be low in prestige and out of keeping withwhat the individual expected to earn from it. Voluntaryunemployment seemed to be preferred to taking up ajob that did not match expectations. We further notedthat occupations requiring manual effort (blue-collarjobs) were not preferred. Training programmes thatoffered skills development opportunities for suchoccupations (e.g. masonry, electrical wiring, turning,fitting, carpentry, boat building and repair,waiter/waitress) tended to be actively avoided, althoughthese employment sectors are currently booming in theMaldives.

The overall impressions of our assessment of socialcognitions and career beliefs was that the young peoplein the study did not seem to experience urgency inrelation to finding a job. Two factors seem tocontribute to this mind-set. Firstly, the young person,

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along with his or her family, had high expectations of ajob and tended to reject opportunities because they didnot measure up to these expectations. Secondly, theyoung person was shielded from the realities of beingunemployed in the long term by highly supportiveparents and families. The willingness to take up a jobwith the view to building up one's life gradually overtime was low.

This information indicated quite clearly that prevailingcareer beliefs placed the project's core objectives,namely, employment skills training, at significantlyhigh risk of being rejected by the project's intendedbeneficiaries. It was also evident that a career guidanceprogramme that was insensitive to this social-cognitiveenvironment would almost certainly be an exercise infutility. The analysis also gave us clear guidelines forthe content of the social marketing campaign thatwould preface and then work alongside the careerguidance programme.

5.3. The social marketing campaign

5.3.1. Ethical considerations

Social marketing is the use of marketing principles andtechniques to influence a target audience to achieve thegoal of positive social change, for the benefit ofindividuals, groups or society as a whole (Hastings &Saren, 2003). A debate pertaining to the ethics of socialmarketing has continued since its inception for the last30 years. MacFayden, Stead & Hastings (1999) havehighlighted some of the most critical issues. One is thatsocial marketing could be 'hegemonic' in charactersince 'causes' are identified by persons in positions ofpower and authority to be beneficial to both individualsand society. Perhaps the most serious ethicalconsideration is the possibility that these powerfultechniques could become tools of coercion and 'hiddenpersuasion'. Aware of these and other ethical issuesassociated with any form of large-scale social changeprogramme, the project clarified the activities to becarried through this effort as sharpening the targetpopulation's awareness of the consequences of certainideas, attitudes, practices or behavior andsimultaneously providing alternatives and avenues forchange. While developing an attractive and youth-friendly image, this social marketing effort wouldconstantly strive to maintain an 'informational tone' andavoid 'overselling' the benefits of recommendedchanges.

5.3.2. Formulation of objectives

The objectives of the Maldivian campaign are two-fold(Abdulla, 2006). One is to make careers informationavailable in an attractive and youth-friendly manner.The other is to address the attitudes of extremepassivity and apathy toward career development that is

widely prevalent among Maldivian youth. While theyoung person is at the core of the campaign, two othertarget groups include parents and employers.

The guidelines for the campaign emerged from ourinitial analysis of social-cognitive environments andcareer beliefs (Arulmani, 2004). At the core of thecampaign is the objective of creating a positive andaffirmative image of work and career development.Accordingly, the campaign identified four key areasthat it would address in its first phase (Abdulla, 2006):

• Encourage young people to engage with training opportunities and develop skills that would prepare them for the world of work (proficiency beliefs).

• Give young people confidence in themselves and their potential to choose a career path for themselves (control/self-direction beliefs).

• Encourage young people to take charge and control of their lives (control/self-direction beliefs).

• Promote the belief in starting small and reaching high (persistence beliefs).

5.3.3. Logo and slogan

The name of the career guidance programme given tous by the government was 'Youth EmploymentServices'. Keeping in mind the findings from oursocial-cognitive analysis, the social marketing teamdeveloped a positive and affirmative acronym. Therather dull and boring 'Youth Employment Services'was shortened to spell 'YES'! With the objective ofaddressing the widespread attitudes of helplessness,apathy and indifference, the phrase, 'Because I can' wasadded and the slogan for the campaign became: 'YES!Because I Can'.

5.3.4. Communication tools: a multi-pronged approach

A variety of communication tools have been developedaround the 'YES! Because I Can' concept to heightenthe feelings and images embodied by the slogan(Abdulla, 2006). These include advertisements in localnewspapers and magazines (youth friendly inserts),Zocards (free postcards) with career developmentmessages, short TV clips of role models, events (e.g. afashion show of traditional Maldivian work costumes)and competitions (e.g. essay, poster, painting, collagecompetitions on themes related to job seeking andcareer development). Communication devices alsoinclude a 'YES!' website and a toll free phone line forcareers information.

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5.4. Social marketing and career guidance: theinterface

The key purpose of the social marketing campaign is toprovide a platform for careers services by breakingthrough prevailing attitudes of pride and prejudice andstimulating interest and excitement around the themeof work and career development. Accordingly, thecareers programme has been called 'Yes for careerchoices'. The content of the various career explorationactivities gravitate around affirmative action forpersonal growth and development.

Initial trials have indicated that the idea of careerguidance and occupational choice are imbued withfreshness and excitement when located within theaffirmative and challenging spirit of the campaign. Thereal challenge of course is to sustain this excitementwhen young Maldivian career choosers confront andengage with career development tasks. In the longterm, it is planned that career guidance and socialmarketing will work in tandem with each other. We arepresently building capacity within the country forpersonnel (e.g. teachers and counsellors) to carry outthese duties.

6. Conclusion

I began this paper with a statement from a youthworker who said: 'I am confused. What is the meaningof career?' I have since learnt that the very conceptremains notional until it connects with local realities. Iftheories of career development and the interventionsthat emerge from these theories are to be meaningful,they must be attuned to the ways of thinking and livingthat compose the fabric of a society.

I have often cited the story with which I conclude thispaper. But since it so evocatively captures what I havestumbled to articulate, perhaps one more re-tellingwould not matter.

Quite some time after we had first met him a youngman who had attended one of our counsellingprogrammes came to visit us. Full of confidence, hewalked in and said that he had completed his educationand now had a regular job. Then, rather shyly, he saidhe had something to give us. He drew a crumpledenvelope from his pocket and said 'I received my firstsalary today. I want you to use this to help someoneelse in the way you helped me.' Inside the envelopewas a fifty rupee note. Moved, but curious, we askedhim which of our counselling groups he had belongedto. He looked up and said, 'The group where welearned to think differently.'

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Pride and Prejudice: How do they matter to career development?

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