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The Psychology of Working

A New Perspective for Career Development, Counseling, and Public Policy

• By David Blustein

• Price: $99.95
• Binding: Hardback (also available in Paperback)
• Pages: 384
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 15th February 2006
• ISBN: 978-0-8058-4376-7

About the Book

In this original and major new work, David Blustein places working at the same level of attention for social and behavioral scientists and psychotherapists as other major life concerns, such as intimate relationships, physical and mental health, and socio-economic inequities.

He also provides readers with an expanded conceptual framework within which to think about working in human development and human experience.

As a result, this creative new synthesis enriches the discourse on working across the broad spectrum of psychology's concerns and agendas, and especially for those readers in career development, counseling, and policy-related fields.

This textbook is ideal for use in graduate courses on counseling and work or vocational counseling.

Reviews

"This is the kind of publication of which revolutions are made of. Blustein explores the changing nature of work on both national and global levels boldly addressing the fall out of the rapidly changing landscape of work, including the erosion of job security and the growing isolation and disconnect of workers across virtually all work settings. His recommendations for public policy tackle everything from education reform and the school-to-work transition to the role of diversity and culture in the work place."
—Counseling Today

"...this book remains a monumental contribution to career development; it handles well most of the critical, even multicultural challenges in vocational counseling. It prepares professionals in all levels, from beginning trainees to seasoned psychologists, for our global changing world of working today. The strengths of the book are many."
—PsycCRITIQUES

"Work, as David Blustein incisively describes, is more than just a way to produce things, and it is more than just something we have to get done in order to enjoy our "real" lives. Work is a very central part of our "real" lives, and if we do not attend to it with sufficient respect-and even compassion-then we will continue to create lives for ourselves that do not satisfy...the assumption is that TGIF and a paycheck are all that matters. Blustein tells us-and shows us-that that is not the case. He illuminates the role of work in every sector of the social system, and he does so with psychological as well as social perspicuity. This is a major contribution, and I hope it gets the attention it deserves."
—Paul L. Wachtel, CUNY Distinguished Professor
City College of CUNY

“The Psychology of Working fills an immense void in the career development literature. This book is destined to change the ways in which career development is conceptualized by clients, clinicians, theoreticians, researchers, and public policy advocates. Blustein is both brilliant and expansive in providing us with a volume that takes the specialty of vocational psychology to the next level. The Psychology of Working should be on the required reading list of anyone who teaches a career or vocational counseling course!”
—Madonna G. Constantine
Columbia University

"In The Psychology of Working, Professor Blustein masterfully integrates views and voices about survival, social connection, and self-determination into an inclusive perspective that reconnects working and loving as the central focus for studying human development, practicing psychotherapy, and crafting public policy."
—Mark Savickas
Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine

"Blustein has taken a bold and compassionate journey into uncharted territory. Transcending disciplinary, paradigmatic, epistemological, and even national boundaries in its inclusionary focus, this provocative book challenges professionals to new paths in work-related research and practice. Directive without being doctrinaire, Blustein offers a veritable feast of rich and creative ideas for a truly integrative and inclusive psychology of working."
—Ruth E. Fassinger
University of Maryland

"This text accomplishes a most ambitious task. Blustein links theory, research, and practice across multiple disciplines and specialty areas...This text is at once richly academic and captivatingly practical. It is required reading. This book has soul."
—Ellen Hawley McWhirter
University of Oregon

"The Psychology of Working is one of the most important books in the history of vocational and work psychology. David Blustein, long one of the most prolific scholars in the field, has written a book that seeks to put the study of working into the mainstream of psychology...destined to be a classic!"
—Nadia A. Fouad
University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface. Psychology and the Experience of Working: A Blurred Focus That Is Sharpening. The Changing Nature of Work in the 21st Century. Working as a Means of Survival and Power. Working as a Means of Social Connection. Working as a Means of Self-Determination. Social Barriers and Working: Exploring Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Disability Status, Heterosexism, and Classism at Work. Implications of an Inclusive Psychology of Working for Research and Theory. Implications of an Inclusive Psychology of Working for Practice: Counseling and Psychotherapy. Toward an Inclusive Psychological Practice. Conclusion--The Future of the Psychology of Working.