Vocational Development, Career Choice,
and Mobility in Social Context
This section examines some of the most important social contexts
that influence vocational development and mobility.
Cross-National Variation
Career choice and development are profoundly affected by broad,
cross-national differences in the structure of education and work and
the connections between these institutions. As Kerckhoff (1996)
points out, educational systems can be characterized by the extent to
which they (1) are differentiated by the distinct occupational futures
of students and (2) offer vocation-specific credentials. In the United
States, most high school students pursue a general sequence of courses
that are oriented to college preparation, and all students completing
high school, regardless of their track placement or ability grouping or
the quality of their schools, receive general high school diplomas.
Thus receipt of the general diploma in the American system provides
little indication for the job-seeker or the employer about the kinds of
vocationally useful skills a young person seeking employment directly
after high school graduation might have.
This situation contrasts most vividly with the German educa-
tional system. Pupils are channeled at an early age toward educa-
tional sequences that lead, for those with the highest test scores, to
the university. Those who perform less well are guided toward ap-
prenticeship placement. The apprenticeship is an integrated se-
quence of experiences that prepare the young person to pursue a
particular occupation. It includes part-time work in a firm or busi-
ness, under the supervision of a worker who is responsible for the
apprentice’s training and coordinated coursework in a school setting.
Those who follow the apprentice route, including about 70 percent
of recent cohorts of youth, will obtain, upon completion of their
studies, a highly specific occupational certification that provides
entry to a specific occupation (see Mortimer & Kruger, 2000).
A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 41