The social construction of professions: A case study in Western Antioquia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.unipluri.14437Keywords:
profession, social construction, vocational guidance, youthAbstract
This study seeks to analyze Western Antioquia’s high-school graduates ́ intentions to pursue professional studies, as a social construction determined by several factors associated to culture as a whole.It therefore shows that professions are social constructions connected to an ethos that consists on the process of subject construction based on relationships with oneself, with the others and with the conditions proposed and even imposed by culture as a way of exerting governmental power.This study was conducted by means of a conceptual analysis which allowed explaining, based on the information collected by surveying high-school graduates from the region, their intentions to pursue higher education studies.It demonstrated that the election of a career is usually determined by family and social demands, and by imaginaries of the youngsters, more than as a result of an inquiry into sub-regional possibilities and developmental priorities, or real processes of vocational orientation during senior high-school years.In other words, this study proves a “socializing effect” related to the feeling of individuals about choosing a profession according to the social capital it offers rather than to its intrinsic value.On the other hand, there are real influences from mass society at the time of choosing a profession.In consequence, the help these young individuals require to overcome some of the difficulties of this process is critical.The advice provided should not be limited to the election of a given course of studies, the insertion in the job market, or the election of a profession.
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