Family Background and Careers

Family background and careers are robust constructs, each of which subsumes a complex network of conditions and behaviors. They are interconnected; that is, the definition of one construct in isolation is somewhat limited because it depends on the other construct for complete meaning. The workings of a career are embedded within the workings of the family, and the workings of family are embedded within careers. Definitions of the linked constructs are complex and involve complicated webs of interactions. Family background and careers are applicable to all individuals. Indeed, all persons, notwithstanding their locations within cultures or nations, experience family and career, although the particular manifestations may vary across cultures.

Some authorities believe that families differ from other social units in that new members enter only by birth, adoption, or marriage and leave only by death. Like schools, workplaces, and communities, families have differentiated roles and functions, but they are unique in the social-emotional importance ascribed to interpersonal relationships. If family members die or depart, others can perform the lost members' roles and functions, but the relationships cannot be duplicated. The emotional intensity of the parent-child relationship has a distinctive influence on a person's life.

The family background construct definition herein is limited in scope to the single-generation family of origin, not the intergenerational family of the familiar family tree. Family background is further limited to psychosocial conditions and behaviors within the family and will not include the cross-generational transmissions of psychobiological features through genetic inheritance. The focus is on nurture, not nature. This limiting assumption is typical in social science literature about family and careers, though not always acknowledged.

Family background has a time-extended influence on careers. The family of origin is the principal agent of socialization during childhood and, as such, exerts a pervasive and durable influence on long-term psychosocial development. This influence extends to experiences associated with the transformation from a dependent, nonworking child into an independent, working adult.

A general definition of careers was chosen from among many used in the social sciences because it has acceptance in most disciplines: A career is the evolving sequence of a person's work experiences over time. The definition's essential features are (a) its focus on work experiences rather than simply employment, thus including homemaking and other productive efforts; (b) limitation of experiences to those of one person; and (c) dimension of time required to encompass an “evolving sequence” of work experiences and thus necessitating historical or longitudinal conceptualizations. Careers thus defined are essentially occupational careers: literally, the work that occupies a person's time and efforts, whether remunerated or not.

Careers, as sequences of work experiences, can be thought of as one strand in life span development that is interwoven with, among things, social experiences, cognitive experiences, and emotional experiences to form a person's psychosocial life history. Careers are described as behavior patterns and sequences rather than single acts (e.g., choice or entry into an occupation).

Careers are most strongly connected with family background during the first decade of life, and therefore emphasis will be given to the early emergence of [Page 314]two broad activity patterns: habits of industry and occupational aspirations. Both activity patterns are recognized in psychology and sociology; both are multidimensional constructs; and both are believed to be shaped through social interactions within the family unit.

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