Critical consciousness and career development among urban youth

Journal of Vocational Behavior 68 (2006) 220–232

www.elsevier.com/locate/jvb

Critical consciousness and career development among urban youth �

Matthew A. Diemer ¤, David L. Blustein

Michigan State University and Boston College, USA

Received 30 April 2005Available online 25 August 2005

Abstract

This study explored the role of critical consciousness as a key factor in predicting progressin career development among urban high school students. Critical consciousness, or the capac-ity to recognize and overcome sociopolitical barriers, was operationalized through sociopoliti-cal analysis and sociopolitical control. Canonical correlation analysis indicated a statisticallysigniWcant relationship between critical consciousness and progress in career development,which was supported by estimates of eVect size, for a sample of 220 urban adolescents. Partici-pants with greater levels of critical consciousness had greater clarity regarding their vocationalidentity, were more committed to their future careers, and viewed work as a larger part of theirfuture lives. These results suggest that urban adolescents may best engage the career develop-ment process by maintaining a critical awareness of sociopolitical inequity and situating theirindividual agency within this critical “reading” of the opportunity structure.© 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

� This article is based on a doctoral dissertation conducted by Matthew A. Diemer under the direction ofDavid L. Blustein. This research was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid from the Society for the Psycho-logical Study of Social Issues and a Dissertation Fellowship from Boston College. The authors thank Et-iony Aldarondo, James Mahalik, and Ana Martínez-Alemán, who served on the dissertation committeeand who provided valuable input on this project, as well as the constructive feedback of the reviewers.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology andSpecial Education, 441 Erickson Hall, College of Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing,MI 48824-1034, USA. Fax: +1 517 353 6393.

E-mail address: [email protected] (M.A. Diemer).

0001-8791/$ - see front matter © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2005.07.001

mailto: [email protected]

mailto: [email protected]

M.A. Diemer, D.L. Blustein / Journal of Vocational Behavior 68 (2006) 220–232 221

Keywords: Career development; Critical consciousness; Sociopolitical development; Urban adolescents

1. Introduction

This article examines the potential of critical consciousness to be emancipatory inthe career development process of urban adolescents. There remains today a persis-tent asymmetry in educational and vocational resources in urban communities rela-tive to resources in suburban communities within the United States, as well as inmany other nations (Kozol, 1991; McLoyd, 1998; Wilson, 1996). This asymmetry inaccess to the “building blocks” of career development (such as eVective guidance andvocational role models; Blustein, Juntunen, & Worthington, 2000) is primarily socio-political in nature (Prilleltensky, 1994; Watts, GriYth, & Abdul-Adil, 1999) andresults in sociopolitical barriers to the career development process of urban adoles-cents (Carter & Cook, 1992; Constantine, Erickson, Banks, & Timberlake, 1998).Because these barriers to the career development process are primarily sociopolitical,it follows that the capacity to address these sociopolitical barriers (known in thisstudy as critical consciousness) may assist urban adolescents in engaging eVectivelywith the career development process.

1.1. Models of critical consciousness

Models of sociopolitical development (Watts et al., 1999) and critical conscious-ness (Freire, 1973, 1993) describe how oppressed individuals formulate a critical anal-ysis of structural oppression and the perceived capacity to change inequities withintheir sociopolitical environments. Nested within the sociopolitical context of struc-tural racism and inequitable access to resources of urban adolescents, the Watts et al.(1999) Wve-stage (Acritical, Adaptive, Precritical, Critical, and Liberation) modeldescribes the process by which urban adolescents develop a multileveled sociopoliti-cal analysis of sociostructural oppression and group-based inequality (such as in theinequitable distribution of resources across racial groups) and perceive the capacityto achieve desired outcomes within systems of inequity through individual or collec-tive action. Critical consciousness is theorized to be one “antidote” to oppression byserving as an internal resource to draw upon in coping with oppression and overcom-ing sociopolitical barriers (Watts et al., 1999). These models suggest two essentialcomponents in critical consciousness—sociopolitical analysis and sociopolitical con-trol—which we review next.

1.2. Components of critical consciousness

1.2.1. Sociopolitical analysisOne of the key constructs in this study is Social Dominance Orientation (SDO),

which “links the individual psychological level to the level of the social–politicalstructure” (Pratto et al., 2000, p. 371). SDO expresses “the value that people place on

222 M.A. Diemer, D.L. Blustein / Journal of Vocational Behavior 68 (2006) 220–232

non-egalitarian and hierarchically structured relationships among socialgroupsƒ[which] expresses general support for the domination of certain sociallyconstructed groups over other socially constructed groups” (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999,p. 61). More precisely, SDO reXects a sociopolitical attitude that connotes limitedsociopolitical analysis and concomitantly limited critical consciousness for urbanadolescents. SDO represents an endorsement of group-based social inequality anddominance (such as between European- and African-Americans in the US) andoppression wherein one hegemonic group enjoys disproportionate status, power, andmaterial-well being over other oppressed groups (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, &Malle, 1994).

Individuals who endorse the attitudes assessed by SDO tend to support inequal-ity-enhancing sociopolitical attitudes such as the myth of meritocracy, belief in a justworld, Social Darwinism, and racist attitudes toward African-Americans (Prattoet al., 1994). Moreover, individuals who aYrm the SDO attitudes have been found toreject attitudes supporting oppressed groups (Pratto et al., 2000) and tend to lackempathy, altruism, egalitarianism, and social tolerance. In sum, SDO supports thevery systems of oppression and group-based inequality for which critical conscious-ness is the “antidote” for.

Related literature suggests an inverse relationship between the endorsement ofSDO and sociopolitical analysis of conditions of oppression and group-basedinequality among low-status groups (low-status referring to persistent inequities inhealth outcomes, wealth, and educational attainment attributable to sociopoliticalinequity; cf. Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). Sidanius and Pratto, for example, argued thatthe acceptance of SDO suggests a limited sociopolitical analysis of our social struc-ture for members of low-status groups. Jost and Thompson (2000) label the endorse-ment of SDO by low-status groups “false consciousness,” arguing that this limitedsociopolitical analysis is antiethical to their interests and contributes to the mainte-nance of oppression. Similarly, Neville, Coleman, Falconer, and Holmes (2005)argued that endorsement of SDO by low-status groups serves to keep them “in a sub-jugated position by justifying their oppression” (p. 31). Moreover, Neville et al. foundthat low SDO scores were associated with greater sociopolitical analysis of racialoppression and greater capacity to deal with sociopolitical inequity, while high SDOscores were associated with a limited sociopolitical analysis of racial oppression anda diminished capacity to deal with inequity among African-American adults.

Although, we recognize that the non-acceptance of an ideology does not inher-ently entail the analysis and rejection of that ideology, the consensual and wide-spread nature of SDO suggests that non-endorsement of this ideology does in factindicate critical analysis (cf. Neville et al., 2005). SDO is collectively shared, viewed asself-evident, and part of the social fabric that all Americans are exposed to and learnfrom (Foels & Pappas, 2004; Pratto et al., 1994; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). For exam-ple, in “group dominance cultures,” such as the US (Pratto et al., 2000), SDO’s prev-alence organizes social groups into patterns of relationships that are learned, easilyaccessible, and well known by members of both low and high status groups withinthat society. Something so widely learned and pervasive suggests a pattern of“unlearning” in individuals who do not endorse this ideology. For example, as


Americans also learn and then “unlearn” internalized racism (Carter & Cook, 1992)through the process of critical analysis and questioning, we argue that the unlearning(and concomitant non-endorsement) of SDO connotes critical analysis, questioning,and rejection of this sociopolitical ideology.

1.2.2. Sociopolitical controlDrawing from Freire’s notion of critical consciousness (Zimmerman, personal

communication, February 21, 2001), sociopolitical control “refers to beliefs thatactions in the social and political system can lead to desired outcomes” (Zimmerman,Ramírez-Valles, & Maton, 1999, p. 736) and reXects self-eYcacy beliefs to alteraspects of one’s sociopolitical environment. Sociopolitical control is theorized to bean antidote to the deleterious eVects of social oppression upon urban adolescents.Zimmerman et al. (1999) observed that sociopolitical control moderated the negativeeVects of structural oppression upon the mental health of a sample of urban adoles-cents, suggesting that sociopolitical control is one internal resource that urban ado-lescents can draw upon to cope with sociopolitical inequity. Furthermore, Itzhakyand York (2000) found that sociopolitical control was associated with communityparticipation and sociopolitical action for a sample of Israeli adult activists. Sociopo-litical control reXects the perceived capacity to take action upon one’s sociopoliticalenvironment that increases with critical consciousness. As such, we expect sociopolit-ical control to be closely associated with critical consciousness.

1.3. Career development among urban adolescents

Super’s (1980) developmental “life-span, life-space” theory emphasizes the suc-cessful resolution of career development tasks at each stage of the life-span, such asadolescents developing a vocational identity and a connection to the adult world ofwork. Super’s theory also addresses the “life-space” that encompasses aspects of thesocial context, such as race, gender, and social class. Furthermore, the emancipatorycommunitarian perspective (Blustein, McWhirter, & Perry, 2005) provides a founda-tional perspective from which to incorporate the sociopolitical context into the “life-space” of career development. That is, this perspective emphasizes the considerationof career development within the sociostructural conditions that limit access toopportunity among oppressed or marginalized groups, such as urban adolescents.

Considering the sociopolitical barriers to urban adolescents’ career development,one aspect of the life-space germane to urban adolescents is the development of afuture orientation and remaining connected to the career exploration process (Lad-any, MelincoV, Constantine, & Love, 1997; Marko & Savickas, 1998; Newman,1999). Integrating urban adolescents’ life-span need to clarify their vocational iden-tity with the life-space need to develop a connection to their vocational future, wesuggest that vocational identity, commitment to the notion of a career, and work rolesalience connote progress in the relevant life-span and life-space developmental tasksof urban adolescents suggested by Super (1980).

Holland, Gottfredson, and Power (1980) deWned vocational identity as the clarityand stability and coherence of an individual’s goals, interests and talents. Vocational


identity has been related to eVective career decision-making skills, career decidedness,and to career maturity (Holland et al., 1980; Holland, Johnston, & Asama, 1993).Career commitment represents one’s connection to the career planning process andidentiWcation with the world of work in the face of occupational barriers (Carson &Bedeian, 1994). Work role salience, the degree to which work is important to an indi-vidual and planful about one’s career, is associated with eVective career decision-making and other positive career development outcomes among young adults(Greenhaus & Simon, 1977).

1.4. Integration of critical consciousness and career development

The literature provides mixed evidence with regard to the relationship betweencritical consciousness and progress in career development. Conchas’ (2001) qualita-tive study of an urban high school observed Latino adolescents with both lower andhigher levels of critical consciousness invested in the career development process.Fine’s (1991) qualitative study of an inner-city high school found that adolescentswith greater critical consciousness tended to drop out of high school, rather thanmore eVectively engage with the career development process. In contrast, O’Connor’s(1997) qualitative study indicated that critical consciousness assisted urban African-American adolescents in remaining invested in the career development process andmaintaining a sense of hope for their vocational future. O’Connor (1997, p. 622)argued that having observed or participated in successful resistance to injustice and/or oppression, these participants “believe[d] that human action could producedesired social outcomes despite structural limitations.” Chronister and McWhirter(2004) observed that critical consciousness assisted survivors of domestic abuse inconnecting to the career development process and realizing occupational goals.Finally, Diemer and Hsieh (2005) found that sociopolitical development was associ-ated with higher vocational expectations among lower-SES adolescents of Color.

Although the literature provides mixed evidence, our view is that critical conscious-ness may be instrumental in navigating the career development process for urban ado-lescents. As O’Connor (1997) and Diemer and Hsieh (2005) observed, criticalconsciousness may empower inner-city youth to transcend sociopolitical barriers andengage with career development processes. We believe that urban adolescents may viewthe attainment of a meaningful and rewarding career as a means of empowering them-selves. As such, our research hypothesis is that greater levels of sociopolitical controland lower levels of SDO (connoting greater sociopolitical analysis) associate with pro-gress in career development for a sample of urban adolescents.

2. Method

2.1. Participants

Given the structural oppression and sociopolitical barriers urban adolescents ofcolor encounter (Fine, 1991; Watts et al., 1999; Wilson, 1996), 220 students


(115 females and 105 males) at two urban high schools in the Northeastern UnitedStates served as participants for this study. These participants attended highschools that are composed almost entirely of students of Color from poor andworking class neighborhoods. The mean age for all participants was 15.57(SDD .93). The participants were in the 10th grade (ND 136, or 61.8%) or 9th grade(ND 84, or 38.2%). The ethnic and racial self-identiWcations were as follows: 24.1%(53) self-identiWed as Black/African American/African/Cape Verdean, 24.1% (53)as Black/Caribbean, 26.8% (59) as Latino/a, 8.6% (19) as White, European, orEuropean-American, 4.1% (9) as Asian, .5% (1) as Native American/AmericanIndian, 1.8% (4) as Middle Eastern/Arabic, and 10.0% (22) as multi-ethnic/racial.The obtained sample size of this study (ND 220) was suYcient to detect a mediumeVect size (Cohen, 1992).

2.2. Instruments

After providing participants with informed consent information and obtainingconsent from parents/guardians, the data collection packet were administered to thestudents.

2.3. Measurement of critical consciousness

2.3.1. Sociopolitical analysisSociopolitical analysis was operationalized, in part, through inverse scores on

the SDO measure of Pratto et al. (1994). The 14-item Likert-type SDO measurecontains items such as “Some groups of people are simply inferior to othergroups.” Pratto et al. (1994) obtained a mean � coeYcient of .82 across 14 samplesof college students and estimates of test–retest reliability of .81 over a 3-monthperiod for a subsample of 25 participants. This measure has received substantialsupport for its psychometric properties and theoretical stability across diVerentnations and social groups. For example, conceptual clarity, group diVerences inSDO scores, and psychometrically stability of the SDO measure have beenobserved in samples from Taiwan, Sweden, Israel, and the United States (Sidanius& Pratto, 1999). We obtained an � coeYcient of .85 for the participants in the pres-ent study.

2.3.2. Sociopolitical controlThe Sociopolitical Control Scale (SPCS) measures the perceived capacity to

achieve desired outcomes in a context of sociopolitical inequity that reXectshigher levels of critical consciousness. The SPCS is comprised of 17 items using asix-point, Likert-type format. From samples of university undergraduates, com-munity members, and members of a local church, Zimmerman and Zahniser(1991) obtained a two-factor structure, Leadership Competence (�D .76) and Pol-icy Control (�D .75) with a moderate association (r D .49) between the twofactors. We obtained an � coeYcient of .77 for the participants in the presentstudy.


2.4. Measurement of progress in career development

2.4.1. Vocational identityWe used the Vocational Identity scale (Holland et al., 1980) to operationalize

vocational identity. Holland et al. (1980) obtained Kuder–Richardson 20 scoresranging from .86 to .89 from samples of high school students and employed adults forthe VI. Subsequent factor analytic studies conWrmed the single factor model of theVocational Identity subscale for White and African-American college students(Toporek & Pope-Davis, 2001). We obtained an � coeYcient of .76 for the partici-pants in the present study.

2.4.2. Career commitmentThe Career Commitment Measure (CCM) was used to assess participants’ com-

mitment to working in the future and connection to the career development process.Principal-axes factor analyses conducted by Carson and Bedeian (1994) indicated athree-factor structure (career identity, career resilience, and career planning) for theCCM, with coeYcient �s ranging from .79 to .85 for samples of high school, collegeand graduate students, and adult workers. Validity analyses indicate that the CCMconverged with measures of career commitment and diverged from measures ofcareer withdrawal (Carson & Bedeian, 1994).

However, to date, the CCM has not been used with an adolescent population, and haspredominantly been used with European-American adults. As such, minor revisionswere made to the wording of items to more accurately reXect the developmental status ofthe participants. (For example, the original phrase “My line of work/career Weld” wasreplaced with the more general “My career in the future”). These modiWcations werepiloted and found to be understandable by a sample of inner-city high school students.We obtained an � coeYcient of .70 for the participants in the present study.

2.4.3. Work salienceWorking in the framework of Super, Starishevsky, Matlin, and Jordaan’s (1963)

self-concept implementation theory, Greenhaus (1971) theorized that individualswith higher degrees of work salience would be more likely to select careers that werecongruent with their self-concepts, as they would be more committed to the notion ofwork and the selection of a fulWlling occupation. The Work Role Salience Scale(WRSS; Greenhaus, 1971) is a 27-item measure that assesses three dimensions: (1)relative importance of work; (2) general attitudes toward work; and (3) and careerplanning and thinking about career that has been supported by principal-axes analy-sis (Greenhaus, 1973). Greenhaus (1971) obtained a coeYcient � of .81 for the WRSSwith a sample of female and male college students. Although work role salience hasbeen shown to relate to occupational self-concept congruence only among male pop-ulations (Greenhaus, 1971), work role salience has been found to relate positively toindices of adaptive career development such as career decidedness (Greenhaus &Simon, 1977) and level of self- and career-related exploration (Greenhaus & Sklarew,1981) with male and female participants. We obtained an internal consistency coeY-cient of .73 for the participants in the present study.


3. Results

Preliminary analyses revealed that the data were normally distributed, with no evi-dence of skewness or kurtosis. A series of two-tailed t tests (�D .01), detailed in Table 1,revealed no signiWcant diVerences between male and female participants on the mea-sures of interest. Table 2 shows that most of the obtained Pearson correlations werestatistically signiWcant and in the theoretically predicted direction. Despite thesemantic similarity of the VI and CCM (which contains a ‘career identity’ factor), aprincipal components analysis (Diemer, 2005) of these measures with urban adoles-cents found that the VI and CCM did not load on any common factors and that theVI measured one’s (current) clarity of vocational identity, while the CCM measuredone’s more generalized connection to having a career in the future. The multidimen-sional nature of career development and this observed factor structure clarify thelimited association (rD .31) between these indices. From our perspective, we believethat variations in vocational identity and career commitment represent related, butrelatively distinct aspects of the career development process for urban youth. Fur-thermore, the correlations between indices of critical consciousness and career

Table 1Descriptive information and test of gender diVerences

Note. SPCS, Sociopolitical Control Scale; iSDO, inverted Social Dominance Orientation scores; WRSS,Work Role Salience Scale; VI, Vocational Identity; CCM, Career Commitment Measure. Higher meanscores indicate greater levels of critical consciousness and greater levels of progress in career development,respectively.

Male and female combined

Male Female Male–female comparison

M SD M SD M SD t p

SPCS 66.01 10.89 65.84 10.98 66.17 10.85 ¡.23 .82iSDO 81.61 14.37 81.32 14.73 81.87 14.09 ¡.28 .78WRSS 90.32 10.78 88.82 11.19 91.73 10.22 ¡1.85 .07VI 9.80 3.83 10.16 3.84 9.50 3.81 1.27 .21CCM 41.67 5.87 41.28 6.02 42.10 5.73 ¡1.15 .25

Table 2Intercorrelations for critical consciousness and progress in career development

Note. SPCS, Sociopolitical Control Scale; iSDO, inverted Social Dominance Orientation; WRSS, WorkRole Salience Scale; VI, Vocational Identity; CCM, Career Commitment Measure. Higher scores indicategreater levels of critical consciousness and progress in career development.¤ p < .05.

¤¤ p < .01.

SPCS iSDO WRSS VI CCM

SPCS —iSDO .35 ¤¤ —WRSS .42¤¤ .09 —VI .21¤¤ .17¤ .14 —CCM .42¤¤ .30¤¤ .44¤¤ .31¤¤ —


development suggest that participants with higher levels of critical consciousness hadhigher levels of progress in their career development.

Canonical correlation analyses were used in the present study to explore the rela-tionships between the set of two critical consciousness variables. The Wrst set con-sisted of two critical consciousness variables, sociopolitical control and invertedsocial dominance orientation, and the second set consisted of three career develop-ment variables, career commitment, work role salience and vocational identity. Thecanonical correlation analysis included a total sample of 183 cases, which includedonly those participants with no missing items. Estimates of power were .97, suggest-ing that the sample size was adequate. A signiWcance test that considers both canoni-cal correlations simultaneously met the criterion for statistical signiWcance, (Pillai’sVD .33, F (6,179)D11.76, p < 001, Rc2D .29); a signiWcance test of the second canoni-cal correlation in isolation was also signiWcant, (Wilk’s LambdaD .96,F (6, 179)D4.22, pD .02). In sum, the canonical correlation analyses revealed a signiW-cant relationship between the sets of critical consciousness and career developmentvariables.

Using the squared value of the canonical correlation (Rc2) as an estimate of eVectsize (Thompson, 2000), the obtained eVect size associated with the Wrst canonical rootequaled .29 and .04 for the second canonical root. Because the eVect size of the secondroot (.04) did not exceed the meaningfulness criterion of .10 advanced by Pedhauzar(1997), it was not retained for interpretation. The obtained structure coeYcients indi-cate that Sociopolitical Control (¡.99), Work Role Salience (¡.76), and Career Com-mitment (¡.88) emerge as the original variables with the strongest relationships tothe Wrst canonical root. However, inverted Social Dominance Orientation (¡.51) andVocational Identity (¡.51) also appear to have an impact upon the Wrst canonicalroot. These loadings suggest that for urban adolescents, a sense of sociopolitical con-trol was strongly associated with the salience of the work role and connection to afuture career, while sociopolitical analysis and a clearer sense of vocational identityhad a more moderate degree of association to the canonical root.

4. Discussion

The Wndings from this study suggest that statistically signiWcant relationships existbetween urban adolescents’ critical consciousness and their progress in career devel-opment. In particular, sociopolitical control was strongly associated with connectionto one’s vocational future and work role salience, while sociopolitical analysis wasmoderately associated with clarity of vocational identity. These relationships suggestthat critical consciousness may be more facilitative of urban adolescents’ remainingconnected to their vocational future than clarity regarding their vocational identity.Considering the structural oppression that urban adolescents face (Watts et al.,1999), the present study observed that critical consciousness was associated with pro-gress in career development among a sample of oppressed individuals, as did Chro-nister and McWhirter (2004), Diemer and Hsieh (2005), and O’Connor (1997). Thissuggests that critical consciousness may serve as an internal resource that assists


urban adolescents in analyzing and acting to achieve desired outcomes within anenvironment of inequitable access to resources and racial discrimination. In addition,the obtained eVect sizes suggest critical consciousness contributes a meaningful“piece of the puzzle” to our understanding of how urban adolescents remain con-nected to aspects of their life-span and life-space of career development.

Two explanations may clarify why the results obtained in the present study diVerfrom those of Fine (1991). First, the present study did not sample students who haddropped out, as Fine’s did, which suggests that direct comparisons between Fine’swork and this study may not be warranted. However, the presence of participants inthe present study with greater levels of critical consciousness that were engaged withcareer development tasks provides evidence counter to Fine’s study. Second, theresponses of Fine’s (1991) participants suggest (and Fine & Rosenberg, 1983acknowledge) that dropouts may not reach the more advanced levels of critical con-sciousness, and as such may not have had the capacities needed to remain engagedwith career development tasks. This is partially explained by diVering experiencesreported by urban adolescents in the O’Connor (1997) and Fine (1991) studies. Hav-ing experienced resistance to injustice and oppression leading to desired outcomes,the O’Connor participants reported feelings of sociopolitical control, while the Fineparticipants did not report successful experiences of resistance nor feelings of socio-political control. Although participants in both studies reported a critical conscious-ness of sociopolitical inequity, this sense of sociopolitical control led the O’Connorparticipants to feel that individual eVort (such as hard work) within inequitable edu-cational and occupational arenas could lead to desired outcomes. The Fine partici-pants did not report this sense of sociopolitical control, and, feeling that individualeVort within these arenas would be ineVective, dropped out of high school. Clearly,these disparate Wndings suggest the need for more research into the nature and conse-quences of critical consciousness. Longitudinal studies would be well suited to exam-ine the relationship between critical consciousness, progress in career development,and occupational attainment.

The results of this study may inform career counseling and psychosocial interven-tions with urban adolescents and other oppressed populations. Interventions couldfoster critical consciousness among participants in an eVort to cope with feelings ofdisempowerment and facilitate their connection to their vocational futures and, to alesser extent, clarity of vocational identity. As other scholars recommend (Blusteinet al., 2005; Prilleltensky, 1994), career-focused interventions with oppressed individ-uals could be enhanced by fostering clients’ sociopolitical analysis of the role social,economic, and political structures play in their work and personal lives and facilitat-ing their capacity to achieve desired outcomes within this sociopolitical context.Infusing critical consciousness could also augment psychoeducational programs thatconnect school and career (e.g., Solberg, Howard, Blustein, & Close, 2002).

The use of self-report measures in the present study introduces potential limita-tions, such as the diYculty adolescents often have in accurately reporting their pro-gress in career development (O’Brien & Fassinger, 1993). This diYculty, in additionto the multidimensional nature of career development (Super, 1980), may inform ourunderstanding of the lack of association between vocational identity and connection


to vocational future in the present study. It may be that connection to one’s voca-tional future facilitates the clarity of vocational identity for urban adolescents overtime; however, further research is needed to elucidate the relationships between con-nection to one’s vocational future and vocational identity.

The results indicated that male and female participants did not signiWcantly diVeron the measures used in the present study. However, given the role gender plays incritical consciousness (Diemer, KauVman, Koenig, Trahan, & Hsieh, 2005) and in thecareer development process (Betz & Fitzgerald, 1987), we believe that further atten-tion needs to be devoted to understanding the role that gender plays in the relation-ships between critical consciousness and career development among members ofoppressed groups. We also note that male and female participants did not signiW-cantly diVer on SDO scores, a very divergent Wnding from the invariant pattern ofhigher SDO scores among males than females in several investigations across diVer-ent cultures (cf. Sidanius & Pratto, 1999).

Sociopolitical control measures the perceived capacity to act eVectively withinthe sociopolitical sphere, but does not capture the actual eVectiveness of one’ssociopolitical actions. Measuring the eVectiveness of adolescents’ sociopoliticalactions is also confounded by the fact that adolescents (at least those under 18)cannot vote and lack the opportunity to formally participate in many sociopoliti-cal processes. However, a study of adult activists (Itzhaky & York, 2000) demon-strated that sociopolitical control was in fact associated with greater levels ofcommunity participation and sociopolitical action, suggesting some relationshipsbetween perceived and “actual” sociopolitical self-eYcacy. Future research couldmore fully illuminate these relationships, such as by studying sociopolitical controland sociopolitical participation in school and youth-oriented community andsocial action organizations.

This study suggests that critical consciousness in urban adolescents is associatedwith engagement with the career development process through (in particular)remaining connected to a vocational future and clarity of vocational identity. Ratherthan reading an unjust opportunity structure and abandoning one’s sense of agencyor solely focusing upon individual eVort while neglecting the deleterious eVects ofracism, classism, and sexism, Chronister and McWhirter (2004), O’Connor (1997),and the present study suggest that urban adolescents may best engage with the careerdevelopment process by maintaining a critical awareness of an opportunity structurethat is unjust and situating their individual agency and eVort (such as working hardat school) within a critical “reading” of the opportunity structure. In essence, asurban adolescents learn how to “play the game on an uneven playing Weld,” they maybecome more eYcacious in applying their individual eVorts in navigating the arenasthat are oppressive to them—educational and occupational systems. Critical con-sciousness is a means of transcending one’s situation through action and reXection;progress in career development [and presumably, later occupational attainment andeconomic empowerment] represent concrete forms of solidifying this transcendence.Future research should strive to elucidate these relationships more clearly, and con-tinue to illuminate constructs that assist urban adolescents in engaging with theworld of work and transcending their sociopolitical environments.


References

Betz, N. E., & Fitzgerald, L. F. (1987). The career psychology of women. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Blustein, D. L., Juntunen, C. L., & Worthington, R. L. (2000). The school-to-work transition: Adjustment

challenges of the forgotten half. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Handbook of Counseling Psychol-ogy (3rd ed., pp. 435–470). New York: Wiley.

Blustein, D. L., McWhirter, E. H., & Perry, J. C. (2005). An emancipatory communitarian approach tovocational development: Theory, research, and practice. The Counseling Psychologist, 33, 141–179.

Carson, K. D., & Bedeian, A. G. (1994). Career commitment: Construction of a measure and examinationof its psychometric properties. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 44, 237–262.

Carter, R. T., & Cook, D. A. (1992). A culturally relevant perspective for understanding the career paths ofvisible racial/ethnic group people. In H. D. Lea & Z. B. Leibowitz (Eds.), Adult career development:Concepts, issues and practice (pp. 192–217). Alexandria, VA: National Career Development Associa-tion.

Chronister, K. M., & McWhirter, E. H. (2004). An experimental examination of two career interventionprograms for adult women survivors of domestic violence. Unpublished manuscript.

Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155–159.Conchas, G. Q. (2001). Structuring failure and success: Understanding the variability in Latino school

engagement. Harvard Educational Review, 71(3), 475–504.Constantine, M., Erickson, C. D., Banks, R. W., & Timberlake, T. L. (1998). Challenges to the career

development of urban racial and ethnic minority youth: Implications for vocational intervention.Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 26(2), 82–95.

Diemer, M. A. (2005). Vocational hope and vocational identity: Urban adolescents’ career development.Unpublished manuscript.

Diemer, M. A., & Hsieh, C. (2005). Sociopolitical development and vocational expectations among lower-SES Adolescents of Color. Unpublished manuscript.

Diemer, M. A., KauVman, A. L., Koenig, N. B., Trahan, E. B., & Hsieh, C. (2005). Racism, sexism, andsocial injustice: Peer, family, and community support for urban adolescents’ critical consciousnessdevelopment. Unpublished manuscript.

Fine, M. (1991). Framing dropouts: Notes on the politics of an urban public high school. Albany, NY: StateUniversity of New York Press.

Fine, M., & Rosenberg, P. (1983). Dropping out of high school: The ideology of school and work. Journalof Education, 165(3), 257–272.

Foels, R., & Pappas, C. J. (2004). Learning and unlearning the myths we are taught: Gender and socialdominance orientation. Sex Roles, 50(11/12), 743–757.

Freire, P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness. New York: Continuum.Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.Greenhaus, J. H. (1971). An investigation of the role of career salience in vocational behavior. Journal of

Vocational Behavior, 1, 216–295.Greenhaus, J. H. (1973). A factorial investigation of career salience. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 3(1),

95–98.Greenhaus, J. H., & Sklarew, N. D. (1981). Some sources and consequences of career exploration. Journal

of Vocational Behavior, 18, 1–12.Greenhaus, J. H., & Simon, A. (1977). Career salience, work values, and vocational indecision. Journal of

Vocational Behavior, 10(1), 104–110.Holland, J. L., Gottfredson, D. C., & Power, P. G. (1980). Some diagnostic scales for research in decision

making and personality: Identity, information and barriers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychol-ogy, 39(6), 1191–1200.

Holland, J. L., Johnston, J. A., & Asama, N. F. (1993). The vocational identity scale: A diagnostic andtreatment tool. Journal of Career Assessment, 1, 1–12.

Itzhaky, H., & York, A. S. (2000). Sociopolitical control and empowerment: An extended replication.Journal of Community Psychology, 28, 407–415.

Kozol, J. (1991). Savage inequalities: Children in America’s schools. New York: Harper-Collins.


Jost, J. T., & Thompson, E. P. (2000). Group-based dominance and opposition to equality as independentpredictors of self-esteem, ethnocentrism, and social policy attitudes among African Americans andEuropean Americans. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 209–232.

Ladany, N., MelincoV, D. S., Constantine, M. G., & Love, R. (1997). At-risk urban high school students’commitment to career choices. Journal of Counseling and Development, 76(1), 45–53.

Marko, K. W., & Savickas, M. L. (1998). EVectiveness of a career time perspective intervention. Journal ofVocational Behavior, 52, 106–119.

McLoyd, V. C. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. American Psychologist, 53(2),185–204.

Neville, H. A., Coleman, M. N., Falconer, J. W., & Holmes, D. (2005). Color-blind racial ideology andpsychological false consciousness among African Americans. Journal of Black Psychology, 31(1), 27–45.

Newman, K. S. (1999). Working poor: Low-wage employment in the lives of Harlem youth. In J. A.Graber, J. Brooks-Gunn, & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), Transitions through adolescence: Interpersonaldomains and context (pp. 323–344). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

O’Brien, K. M., & Fassinger, R. E. (1993). A causal model of the career orientation and career choice ofadolescent women. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 40(4), 456–469.

O’Connor, C. (1997). Dispositions toward (collective) struggle and educational resilience in the inner city:A case analysis of six African-American high school students. American Educational Research Journal,34(4), 593–632.

Pedhauzar, E. J. (1997). Multiple regression in behavioral research: Explanation and prediction (3rd ed.).Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace.

Pratto, F., Liu, J. H., Levin, S., Sidanius, J., Shih, M., Bachrach, H., et al. (2000). Social dominance orienta-tion and the legitimization of inequality across cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31(3),369–409.

Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., Stallworth, L. M., & Malle, B. F. (1994). Social dominance orientation: A personal-ity variable predicting social and political attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(4),741–763.

Prilleltensky, I. (1994). The morals and politics of psychology. Albany, NY: State University of New YorkPress.

Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Solberg, V. S., Howard, K., Blustein, D. L., & Close, W. (2002). Career development in the schools:Connecting school-to-work-to-life. The Counseling Psychologist, 30, 705–725.

Super, D. E., Starishevsky, R., Matlin, N., & Jordaan, J. P. (1963). Career development: Self concept theory.New York: College Entrance Examination Board.

Super, D. E. (1980). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. Journal of Vocational Behavior,16, 262–298.

Thompson, B. (2000). Correlation analysis. In L. Grimm & P. Yarnold (Eds.), Reading and understandingmore multivariate statistics (pp. 285–316). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Toporek, R. L., & Pope-Davis, D. B. (2001). Comparisons of vocational identity factor structures amongAfrican American and White American college students. Journal of Career Assessment, 9(2), 135–151.

Watts, R. J., GriYth, D. M., & Abdul-Adil, J. (1999). Sociopolitical development as an antidote for oppres-sion—theory and action. American Journal of Community Psychology, 27(2), 255–271.

Wilson, W. J. (1996). When work disappears: The world of the new urban poor. New York: Random House.Zimmerman, M. A., & Zahniser, J. H. (1991). ReWnements of sphere-speciWc measures of perceived control:

Development of a sociopolitical control scale. Journal of Community Psychology, 19, 189–204.Zimmerman, M. A., Ramírez-Valles, J., & Maton, K. I. (1999). Resilience among urban African American

male adolescents: A study of the protective eVects of sociopolitical control on their mental health.American Journal of Community Psychology, 27(6), 733–751.

Critical consciousness and career development among urban youth

Documents