Development of Career Theory: An Integrative Perspective Based on the Ideas of P. Bourdieu

The paper presents an overview of the development of career theory in modern sociology of labour and shows the potential heuristic value of the integrative concept. The evolution of theoretical views on career is associated with the movement from traditional subjectivist (E. Hughes et al.) and objectivist (G. Wilensky, W. Slocum et al.) approaches to more modern theoretical models. Among the latter, the concepts of “proteic” (D. Hall) and “boundless” (M. Arthur, R. DeFillippi, D. Russo) career have gained particular popularity and scientific research significance. In comparison with the established by the 1950-1960s view of a career as a consistent ascent up the corporate ladder, with predominantly external attributes of success (e.g., a salary increase, a move to a higher position), new models reflect the socio-professional, organisational and technological transformations of the labour market of a post-industrial society, emphasising the multiplicity, flexibility and ambiguity of possible directions of professional development available to a modern employee. In sociology, the concept of a career is thus currently not limited to intra-organisational vertical mobility, but implies consideration of various horizontal and inter-organisational movements, as well as the study of the employees subjective views of their professional growth. The emphasis on the employee’s agency, inherent in new concepts, necessitates the development of an integrative approach to the phenomenon of career. Such an approach opens the possibility to take into account both individual-personal and contextual (structural) factors influencing professional behaviour. An integrative perspective allows partly to combine developments in the field of career research with the principles of the chosen social grand-theory in order to provide the scientist with a general and comprehensive conceptual framework. The development of an integrative approach that takes into account the societal factors influencing the subject of the career process has a promising perspective. The author suggests using as its basis the system of concepts by P. Bourdieu (habitus, field, capital), that are in dynamic interaction and are thus capable of contributing to overcoming the structure/agency dichotomy inherent in modern career theories.