1. Gottfredson’s Circumscription, Compromise, & Self Creation
Christopher Belser, M.Ed., NCC
University of Central Florida

2. To get us started…
Think back to last week when Coralis asked you about a job you wanted when you were a child… What made you change your mind about that one?

3. Meet Linda Gottfredson
Worked in Peace Corps in Malaysia
Taught in high needs schools in Oakland, CA.
Worked for the Human Relations Commission in Oakland, CA researching media bias and black underrepresentation in journalism
Ph.D. in Sociology
Her theory emerged in the early 1980s

4. Her ideas were shaped by the social issues she witnessed and experienced.

5. from an interview with Gottfredson:
“Beginning with my dissertation, I worked toward integrating the sociological and psychological approaches to career development. My particular aim was to understand better why individuals of different races, sexes, and social classes tend to end up in different kinds of jobs—and hence different places within the social order…”

6. “The two spoke different languages… Sociologists classified occupations vertically, by socioeconomic status, while vocational psychologists ordered them horizontally, by field of work or vocational interests. So where one emphasized invidious (unjust) distinctions, the other avoided them. Psychologists studied how people choose occupations; sociologists, how society erects barriers to free choice.” --Linda Gottfredson (2007)

7. Circumscription

8. Orientation to Size & Power

9. A different kind of career theory

10. Orientation to sex roles

11. A different kind of career theory

12. Orientation to social valuation
Everybody Loves Raymond clip (1 min)

13. A different kind of career theory

14. Orientation to Internal, Unique Self

15. A different kind of career theory

16. Key concepts
Self-concept: a multifaceted view of one’s self; includes personal aspects such as appearance, gender, values, abilities, personality, etc.

17. Key concepts
Images of occupations: stereotypes of occupations related to who can work in an occupation and what kind of work they do

18. Key Concepts
Occupational Preferences: compatibility between images of occupations and one’s preferred level of effort
Perceived Accessibility of an Occupation: obstacles or opportunities that affect chances of getting into an occupation
Occupational Alternatives: Product of compatibility and accessibility

19. Cognitive Maps of Occupations
Heart surgeon
Psychiatrist
Federal Judge
Tolerable Effort Boundary
Social Space
(Zone of Acceptable
Alternatives)
HS teacher
Kindergarten teacher
Real Estate Agent
Receptionist
Tolerable Prestige-Level Boundary
Tolerable Sex-Type Boundary
Construction Worker

20. Activity! Let’s make a map!
Refer to the back of your handout
Find the 5 listed careers and complete the list.
Plot the 10 careers on the map where they would fit within the perceived level of prestige (y axis) and perceived sex type (x axis)

21. Heart surgeon
Kindergarten teacher

22. Reflection on activity
Why are certain careers placed where they are?
Who or what may have influenced these ratings?
How do your ratings compare to a classmate’s?

23. Key concepts Circumscription:
Progressive elimination of one’s least favored options; occurs within the four stages

24. Key concepts
Compromise: adjusting preferred career options based on external or environmental constraints on career choice (settling)
If discrepancy between preference and reality is small, individuals won’t compromise on area of interest
If discrepancy is moderate, individuals are more likely to compromise on sex type than prestige.
If the discrepancy is large, individuals are more likely to sacrifice area of interest than prestige or sex type

25. Criticisms Limited mostly to children & adolescents
Not much for adult development
More conceptual, without concrete activities or interventions
Only plots careers based on gender and SES
The “G factor”

26. The “g factor”
Gottfredson was and is interested in the impact of intelligence on abilities and career choice
Briefly researched race and general intelligence (biologically-based)
Has since changed her views on these specific studies
Currently investigating how genetic intelligence factors (nature) and environment (nurture) interact to impact ability and career choice

27. Praise and Implications
Moves the conversation about careers beyond trait-and-factor
Provides counselors with a framework for understanding sociological factors for why an individual may experience career distress or indecision
The Cognitive Map of Careers can help counselors and clients understand how they perceive certain careers; this opens the conversation to why those perceptions are what they are.
Helps counselors factor reality into the conversation about careers
Informs school counselors of the necessity to expose students to non-traditional careers