Critical perspectives on careers

Alexandra Bristow, Katharina Chudzikowski, Nadia deGama and Olivier Ratle

Chapter 8 in Handbook of Critical Work and Organizational Psychology, 2026, pp 133-149 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter discusses critical perspectives on careers and introduces Critical Career Studies (CCS), which have much potential to help radically reimagine career understandings and practices. CCS question entrenched career norms such as career functionalism, managerialism, linearity, and individualism. CCS expose unequal power relations that shape dominant career trajectories resulting in oppressive experiences of careers, and advocate for a more inclusive and equitable understanding of career success. CCS also engage deeply with the temporal and spatial aspects of career, drawing attention to a vibrant spectrum of career experiences and paths unfolding in diverse contexts. The chapter reviews three specific career forms to which CCS are currently making important contributions with notable further potential: global, professional, and academic careers. Future research avenues are then proposed for CCS to further enrich career research by bringing in a wide spectrum of marginalized and ignored voices and career experiences, as well as diverse theoretical and methodological approaches. This would provide opportunities for doing careers differently, in ways that include and empower.

Keywords: Careers; Critical Career Studies; Doing Careers Differently; Power and Resistance; Inclusion; Time and Space (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035331055
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