action is anchored in its social representation, and the context of
action is manifested.
Our approach to action on which our contextualist explanation
of career is based uses a language for dealing with people in their
everyday lives. In observing another’s behavior or in acting in rela-
tion to that behavior, people attribute goals and thus make sense of
the stream of behavior. This process serves as an aid not only to
understanding others but to framing one’s interaction with them.
The language of action reflects everyday experience and the results
of empirical research, as well as a conceptualization of the person,
indicating that intentions and goals are significant dimensions of
human behavior, that human actions are social processes, and that
actions produce each person’s social and cultural world. In discussing
the concept of action, we will explain its contextual characteristics.
Action and Context
It is important to distinguish the simple phrase “studying for an
examination” from engaging in the action itself. The phrase appears
to decontextualize this action, but it is the action itself that contex-
tualizes: given all the variables, in this time and place and for this
purpose, this person acts. The dictionary assigns several meanings to
most words. But when words are used in sentences and speech, we
have no difficulty in knowing which meaning is intended. Those
who wish to understand “a career” for professional or personal rea-
sons will want to keep together as much information as is pertinent.
We propose goal-directed human action as the construct that allows
us to keep all the pertinent information together so we can under-
stand the meaning of our own and others’ behavior. As we attempt
to make sense of actions with others, sequences of actions across
time, or actions that have goals and subgoals, we need broader and
more encompassing constructs. To do this, we propose three con-
structs that extend the notion of action: (1) joint action, (2) project,
and (3) career.
214 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT