The Cultural Career Script: College Students' Expectations for a Typical Career

• In Event: The Cultural Career Script: College Students' Expectations for a Typical Career

Abstract

Cultural life scripts are composed of the events people expect to occur in the life of a typical person in their society. Building on this construct, we investigated the cultural career script, referring to the shared expectations individuals have about the typical career trajectory in their culture. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study characterizes the nature of the cultural career script using data from 300 undergraduate students. An analysis of over 2,000 future career events showed similarities with findings from previous research, such as a tendency for participants to nominate events that are positive and predicted to occur early in life. However, notable differences emerged that provide insight into how young adults may conceptualize the career of a typical individual.

Authors

• Rachel Martin, Washington University in St. Louis

• Andrew C. Butler, Washington University in St. Louis