construction of new meaning arises from actively adapting to
changes and difficulties in the real world. Research on transitions
and the dialectic they engender, beginning with the school-to-work
transition, should apply the metatheoretical model of selective opti-
mization with compensation (Baltes & Baltes, 1990) to examine
the actual mechanisms of vocational development and career con-
struction (Savickas, 2001; Vondracek & Porfeli, in press).
The third research priority requires extensive attention to diverse
groups as well as socioeconomic factors (Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996).
The original statement of vocational development theory (Super,
1953) was formulated at midcentury during an era when many
men spent a career in one company and many women worked as
homemakers or in sexually segregated occupations. Accordingly,
practitioners have, on occasion, rightly criticized the theory for
emphasizing white men to the neglect of women and racial-ethnic
minorities. This criticism seems valid from our perspective at the
beginning of the twenty-first century (Richardson, 1993; Savickas,
1994b). Additions to the original theory, including perspectives
such as developmental contextualism and constructs such as role
salience, respond to the gender context of work, better compre-
hend women’s careers, and increase the theory’s usefulness for mul-
ticultural and cross-cultural research and counseling. To continue
enhancing the usefulness of career construction theory, research
and reflection must identify its biases and rectify the resulting dis-
tortions. Similar to the careers it conceptualizes, the theory itself
must continue to innovate, not stagnate.
Application of Career Construction Theory
The assessment and counseling model that stems from career con-
struction theory is designed to help individuals develop and imple-
ment their self-concepts in their society. Its mission is to help clients
construct a career path that moves them toward the community, not
climb a career ladder that elevates them above it (Savickas, 1993b).
This section explains the constructivist career counseling model by
A DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOR 185