Self in career theory and counselling : a discourse analysis perspective

Abstract

A rapidly changing postmodern working world demands revised conceptualisations of the self. Recent scholarship in discourse analysis invites an investigation into how selves are constructed and fabricated within a complex matrix of social discourses, and how this may impact on the field of career counselling and development. This paper examines the self in career counselling and development from a Foucauldian discourse analysis perspective in terms of the self’s situatedness in history, narrative, and power. In addition, counselling implications within a discourse analysis perspective are provided.