‘Human life is useless without career!’ Do individuals talk about career in the same way as business and parliament?

Valerie Rowles

doi:10.20856/jnicec.5505

Authors

Valerie Rowles NICEC Member

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20856/jnicec.5505

Keywords:

career development learning, Critical discourse analysis, Interdisciplinarity, sociolinguistics, career conceptualisations

Abstract

Findings from an interdisciplinary study using analytical frameworks from the field of applied linguistics suggest that conceptualisations of career currently dominant in business and parliamentary discourse are largely, although not universally, reproduced within individuals’ everyday communication. The prominence of these dominant conceptualisations can be revealed through close attention to grammar and word choice, a reflective process enabling Career Development Professionals to comprehend and challenge, if necessary, unproblematised norms produced within a neoliberal social context.

Author Biography

Valerie Rowles, NICEC Member

Valerie Rowles is a registered and qualified independent career development professional and has practiced for over 35 years, working with individuals and organisations across a range of sectors and industries, designing learning resources, consulting on policy, developing strategy, planning and leading career provision, delivering one-to-one services, group workshops and conference presentations. Fellowship of the Career Development Institute and membership of NICEC is indicative of Valerie’s commitment to career development’s professionalism, ethical principles and continuing improvement. Most recently, Valerie has graduated with a research master’s degree from the University of Nottingham that focused on interdisciplinary study of career development and applied linguistics. #careerdevelopment #futureofwork #sociolinguistics #criticaldiscourse

References

Adamson, S.J., Doherty, N. and Viney, C. (1998). The Meanings of Career Revisited: Implications for Theory and Practice. British journal of management, 9(4): 251–259. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.00096

Atanasova, D. (2018). Keep moving forward. LEFT RIGHT LEFT: A critical metaphor analysis and addressivity analysis of personal and professional obesity blogs. Discourse, Context and Media, 25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2017.09.012

Baruch, Y., Szűcs, N. and Gunz, H. (2015). Career studies in search of theory: the rise and rise of concepts. Career development international, 20(1): 3–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/CDI-11-2013-0137

Baruch, Y. and Vardi, Y. (2016). A fresh look at the dark side of contemporary careers: Toward a realistic discourse. British journal of management, 27(2): 355–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12107

Charteris-Black, J. (2011). Politicians and Rhetoric: The Persuasive Power of Metaphor. 2nd edn. Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Coupland, C. (2004). Career definition and denial: A discourse analysis of graduate trainees’ accounts of career. Journal of vocational behavior, 64(3): 515–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.12.013

Creed, A., McIlveen, P. and Harsha, P. (2021). The dimensional structure of metaphors of career and their relations to career agency, job search self-efficacy, and negative career outlook. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 21(2): 285–308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10775-020-09442-3

Croft, W. and Cruse, A. (2004). Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.

Deetz, S. and McClellan, J. (2009). Critical Studies. In F. Bargiela-Chiappini (Ed.) The Handbook of Business Discourse (pp. 119–131). Edinburgh University Press.

Duncan, G. (2007). After happiness1. Journal of Political Ideologies, 12(1): 85–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569310601095630

Eckert, P. and McConnell-Ginet, S. (2013). Language and gender. 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press.

El-Sawad, A. (2005). Becoming a lifer? Unlocking career through metaphor. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 78(1): 23–41. https://doi.org/10.1348/0963117904X22917

Forman, J. and Argenti, P.A. (2005). How Corporate Communication Influences Strategy Implementation, Reputation and the Corporate Brand: An Exploratory Qualitative Study. Corporate reputation review, 8(3): 245–264. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540253

Hansard (2024). UK Parliament. https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/publications/hansard/

Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2000). Empire. Harvard University Press.

Hedblom, M.M., Kutz, O. and Neuhaus, F. (2015). Choosing the right path: image schema theory as a foundation for concept invention. Journal of Artificial General Intelligence, 6(1): 21–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/jagi-2015-0003

Herriot, P. (1992). The career management challenge: balancing individual and organizational needs. SAGE Publications.

Horton, S.L. (2002). Conceptualizing Transition: The Role of Metaphor in Describing the Experience of Change at Midlife. Journal of Adult Development, 9(4): 277–290. http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020239027517

Inkson, K. (2004). Images of career: Nine key metaphors. Journal of vocational behavior, 65(1): 96–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-8791(03)00053-8

Kilgarriff, A., Baisa, V., Bušta, J., Jakubíček, M., Kovář, V., Michelfeit, J., Rychlý P., and Suchomel, V. (2014) The Sketch Engine: ten years on, Lexicography ASIALEX, 1, 7–36 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40607-014-0009-9

Lemke, T., Larsen, L.T. and Hvidbak, T. (2011). Fear. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 12(2): 113–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2011.579453

Van Maanen, J. and Barley, S.R. (1984). Occupational communities: culture and control in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 6 287–365.

Mandler, J.M. and Pagán Cánovas, C. (2014). On defining image schemas. Language and Cognition, 6(4): 510–532. https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2014.14

Marissa, E.K.L. (2021). Discourse of future-orientedness as neoliberal ideal: metaphor scenarios as a means of representing neoliberal logics. Critical Discourse Studies, 18(5): 582–599. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2020.1779766

Mignot, P. (2004). Metaphor and “career”. Journal of vocational behavior, 64(3): 455–469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.12.014

Moore, N. and Hooley, T. (2012). Talking about career: The language used by and with young people to discuss life, learning and work. iCeGS Research Papers [Repository]. https://repository.derby.ac.uk/item/9346y/talking-about-career-the-language-used-by-and-with-young-people-to-discuss-life-learning-and-work

Richardson, M.S. (2012). A critique of career discourse practices. In P. McIlveen and D.E. Schultheiss (Eds.) Social constructionism in vocational psychology and career development. Sense Publishers (Career development series 4): pp. 87-104

Rychlý, P. (2008). A lexicographer-friendly association score. In Sonjka, P. and Horák, A. (Eds.), Proceedings of Second Workshop on Recent Advances in Slavonic Natural Language Processing, RASLAN 2008. Masaryk University, pp. 6–9. https://www.fi.muni.cz/usr/sojka/download/raslan2008/13.pdf.

Smith-Ruig, T. (2008). Making sense of careers through the lens of a path metaphor. Career development international, 13(1): 20–32. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1108/13620430810849515

Thompson, G. and Hunston, S. (2000). Evaluation: An introduction. In Thompson, G., and Hunston, S., (Eds.) Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse. Oxford University Press.

Vahidi, G. (2021). Representation of Careers in British Print Media, 1985-2015. [PhD thesis University of Loughborough]. Repository. https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/account/articles/14605359

Wells, R. (2024). Trade Journalism. In J. Weber and R.S. Dunham (Eds.) The Routledge Companion to Business Journalism 1st edn. Routledge, p.208-219

Wilensky, H.L. (1961). Orderly Careers and Social Participation: The Impact of Work History on Social Integration in the Middle Mass. American Sociological Review, 26(4): 521–539.

Young, R.A. and Collin. A., (2000). Introduction: framing the future of career. In A. Collin and R.A. Young (Eds.) The Future of Career. Cambridge University Press.