The concepts and theoretical principles underlining the approaches that specifically focus on life projects of vulnerable populations are presented below. The analysis of each of these theories and their interrelationship constitute the starting point for the elaboration of the rationale on which the project is based.
The construction of life projects from the perspective of Systems Theory
The theory of systems consists of “a conceptual and practical map” (McMahon & Patton, 2006, p.94) for evaluating the performance of end users in support to the construction of life projects. Considered one of the most practical, useful and flexible psychology theories, one of its most distinctive characteristics is that it recognizes the individuality of each client, is culturally inclusive, and can thus be applied in a great diversity of international contexts (Patton & McMahon, 1997, Patton, McMahon, & Watson, 2006; McMahon, Watson, Chetty, & Hoelson, 2012). Moreover, this theory constitutes a systemic approach insofar as it assumes the perspective of the “individual in context” (McMahon, Watson, & Patton, 2014, p.30), that is, the individual is a set of variables and contexts that interact with each other, and in this sense, the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts. For this reason, all the variables of the individual and the contexts in which he/she is inserted are taken into account in the intervention process.
Being anchored in a wide variety of other career development approaches, it places its focus on the process (e.g., Super’s life-span, life-space theory) and content (e.g., Holland’s personality and vocational environments theory) of building life projects that foster the well-being of individuals and nations in a changing world. The Systems Theory, and consequent intervention model, consider three main systems:
- The individual system, consisting of a set of intrapersonal factors influencing career development, such as age, health, beliefs, self-concept, ethnicity, personality, interests, abilities, attitudes, gender, and sexual orientation;
- The social system, consisting of all the closest contexts in which the individual is inserted, and with which one interacts, such as peers, family, media, community groups, educational institutions, and workplaces; and
- The environmental/contextual system, which encompasses broader contexts such as geographic location, political decisions, historical trends, globalization, socioeconomics level, and the labour market.
These systems (1, 2 and 3) are in constant interaction, in a continuous and dynamic process, through the close interconnection between three temporal dimensions—past, present and future. In this sense, this process fundamentally draws the attention to the unique pattern of influence that these groups/contexts can have on the individual throughout the life cycle.
The process of supporting the construction of life projects should be understood as an open, circular and recursive process in which different systems are in continuous interaction and constantly influence each other due to the permeability of their boundaries. In addition, this is a process influenced by chance, since people’s lives (careers) have become more unstable, unpredictable and dynamic, a direct result of the increasingly unstable, unpredictable and dynamic contemporary world in which we live. Thus, the process of construction of a new life project requires, from the point of view of the individual, an active, reflexive and meaning-giving attitude (according to a constructivist approach to the career), and from the end user’s point of view (e.g., trainer, mentor and advisor), a collaborative construction and attribution of meanings, encouraging revision, reflection and re-orientation in life (career). In this way, client (target group) and end user will co-construct the meaning of life (career) of the client, using a narrative approach (story building).
It should be noted that the client has an individual and social system of his/her own, but this theory also incorporates the individual and social system of the end user, considering that these systems interact with each other throughout the course of the intervention. These interactions (support processes) allow the individual to play an active role (personal agency) in creating his/her future identities, in the context of a time and space of secure reflection (reflection), in which the end user promotes the relation of this with the different systems in which it is inserted (connection), through the attribution of meanings to the influences of the variables of the different contexts (meanings), and the identification of repetitive patterns of functioning between (learning) contexts (McMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2015, p.151).
Figure 1 shows the individual and social system of the client, the individual and social system of the end user, and the relational system constructed from the interaction between the two systems. These systems are integrated into a broader environmental/contextual system that encompasses the country and its laws, norms, values, and culture, which affect, in a very particular way, the systems mentioned above. In addition, it is important to consider that the individual, social, and environmental systems of the client and of the end users are influenced by a past, a present, and an anticipation of the future, based on recursiveness and chance.
Figure 1. Systems Theory (McMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2015)
The construction of life projects from the perspective of the Ecological Approach
The ecological approach is based on a diversity of constructs, processes and instruments derived from different theories, with the purpose of effecting change. Therefore, it presents a meta-theoretical, pragmatic and eclectic view of the process of supporting the construction of life projects, considering that the multiplicity of complex factors that influence human behaviour (e.g., biological, environmental, sociocultural factors) is not compatible with a single explanatory theoretical model.
In spite of this fact, there is a theoretical model that stands out by the support that provides to the development of the ecological approach. This is the Ecological Systems Theory of Bronfenbrenner (1992) that emphasizes the set of interactions of the person with different levels of the physical and social environment. These levels include (Figure 2):
- The microsystem: all persons with whom there is close interaction and therefore have a more significant influence on one’s development (e.g., family, peer group, school, place of job);
- The mesosystem: relations established between the microsystems, such as family-work, parents-peers, home-school;
- The exosystem: distal systems, in which the person does not have a direct participation, but which in some way can influence it through their actions and decisions (e.g., labour market fluctuations, political decisions, changes in the health system); and
- The macrosystem: broader systems containing moral, social, political, and ideological rules, norms, principles and values, to which all other levels are permeable (Conyne & Cook 2004, p. 16).
All these systems constitute “the total sum of interactive influences that operate in a person’s life” (Conyne & Cook, 2004, p.11). In addition to these levels, Bronfenbrenner (1992) mentions the existence of a “chronosystem”, which consists in the temporal dimension transversal to the different levels previously mentioned.
The ecological approach is based on three basic assumptions to explain that human behaviour is a result of the interaction of the person with his / her environment (b = f (p x e); Lewin, 1936). Analyses of behaviour exclusively based on information on the person (e.g., genes, personality), or exclusively based on information from the environment (e.g., culture, politics) are restrictive, since it is in the reciprocal interaction of the person with his/her the environment, real and perceived, that behaviour can be truly understood.
Therefore, human behavior is:
- Contextualized: based on the concept of the Bronfenbrenner ecosystem, the human being is rooted in its multiple environments (ecology) and depends on them for sustenance and support (Conyne & Cook, 2004), so that no variable (e.g., race, gender) can be analysed in isolation, or without considering time and space;
- Interactional: the person (consisting of feelings, thoughts, emotions and behaviours) and environment (family, social, historical, cultural, economic, political) lives under a reciprocal determinism, according to which the person is imbued in a complex environment and multiple layers of relationships that in turn promote their development through recurrent interactions, and the role of the end user will be to place the focus of their intervention on the interaction, that is, on the cause and effect relation, between the person and the environment; and,
- Significant: using resources and opportunities provided by environments, people seek to live meaningful lives. The meaning they attach to their experiences results from interaction with their specific physical and social environment. In this sense, “truth” does not matter objectively, since the focus is placed on the internal truth, that is, on the meaning, on the interpretation that each person attributes to his/her experience (constructed by thought and language).
Support for the construction of life projects, according to the ecological approach, “is a contextualized support, dependent on the meaning that people attribute to their interactions with the environment” (Conyne & Cook, 2004, p.6). Contrary to Systems Theory, which addresses the system as a whole, the ecological approach focuses on the relationship between the person and his/her environment, and any intervention is developed at the individual level, within a specific set of contextual influences. In this sense, the end user will “reconsider the various possibilities [for the construction of life projects] and, with his/her clients, plan interventions that will help them achieve their goals, with the resources they can manage” (Conyne & Cook, 2004, pp. 9-10).
Figure 2. Ecological Approach
The construction of life projects from the perspective of Chaos Theory
The theory of chaos applied to the construction of life projects considers reality to be constituted by complex, open and dynamic systems—the individual system and contextual systems. These different systems undergo continuous influences, which can be of two types: stability and change. These influences can either occur in the individual, in his/her context, or in the relationship between the two. The behaviour of systems is aperiodic, that is, the result of order and chance, and therefore is simultaneously undergoing an unpredictable and self-organizing process. The more complex the system, the greater the impact of changes in initial conditions (butterfly effect—dependence on initial conditions), but a change in one part of the system does not necessarily have a direct impact on other parts of the system (nonlinearity).
The theory is structured in 4 main concepts:
- Complexity: corresponds to the multiplicity of endogenous or exogenous factors/variables, which influence life and vocational development in general, and career decision making in particular (e.g., parents, friends, teachers, labour market, gender, sexual orientation, politics, climate, health, culture); these factors have a dynamic nature, in the sense that they are continuously, and unpredictably oscillating between stability and change, and moreover have an interactive nature, relating to and influencing each other;
- Change: systems are sensitive to change, and as the individual is constantly changing, the context is constantly changing, and the relationship between individual and context is constantly changing (concept of reciprocal determinism); this change, usually recursive and non-linear, may be trivial, and have few consequences on the person’s life/career, but can also be profound/complex and have repercussions of various orders, thus requiring the person to adapt;
- Chance: is related to the inability to predict and control what happens within the systems, whether it is in the individual system, in the contextual system, or in the relationship between both systems; unpredictability and instability become the norm in contemporary lives/careers, and stress the limitation of human knowledge and control; the existence of an unplanned life event puts at risk rational decision-making.
- Construction/connection: in the face of an inability to predict and control events, people must be active in the process of constructing their life projects, rejecting determinism, i.e., the belief that an ensemble of causes can produce only one effect.
In this respect, the authors consider that change can occur as follows:
- Attractors: they represent the limits of the system, influence the individual and determine the behaviour more likely to change; they include situations where the system can only follow a certain well-defined (objective) direction; in which the system can only move between two points (choice of type “either this or that”; approach-avoidance; dichotomous thinking) without considering other possibilities; in which the system can move through a series of defined points that repeat over time (habitual patterns of doing things); or in which the system is chaotic, repeating old patterns, but not necessarily in the same way, with some possibility of nonlinear and radical change;
- Fractals: they are dynamically stable patterns, that is, the change in the individual’s life/career, although unpredictable, occurs constantly, according to a self-similar pattern, over time (e.g., work market trends, family influences).
- Non-linearity: cause-effect disproportionality, i.e. small changes in dynamic complex systems have the potential to result in disproportionate changes in other parts of the system (e.g., a small change in a part of a complex dynamic system can generate a large change within and beyond the system); this is also known as the “butterfly effect”, and makes it impossible to carry out long-term forecasts.
- Emergence: identification of new patterns from a set of seemingly random events in dynamic complex systems over time; and,
- Phase changes: when the configuration of a system radically changes, in its structure or operation, gradually (e.g., academic) or abruptly (e.g., dismissal).
In this approach, a life project is an emerging property of people’s interaction with their contexts, which may include other people, organizations, culture, legislation, and social contexts (Bright & Pryor, 2011; Pryor & Bright, 2007, 2011). The theory of chaos considers, at its core, that the construction of life projects must encompass predictable and unpredictable dimensions. Thus, end-user (e.g., trainers, mentors) and client (participants from target-group) place the focus on an uncertain and unpredictable reality, having to assume two prevailing positions in the framework of its collaborative process: convergence and emergence The convergence perspective focuses on what is stable, probable, and controllable, that is, academic, formative, and professional information. The emerging perspective focuses on the unpredictable, unstable and dynamic, that is, adaptability, resilience, spirituality, and response to failure.
The construction of life projects from the perspective of Career Self-Management Models
Career self-management models consider that the process of building life/career projects is fundamentally a problem-solving and decision-making process that occurs in a cyclical, systematic and intentional way throughout the life cycle of an individual (Taveira & Rodriguez-Moreno, 2009). There are several models, but in general, everyone considers that this process is more or less composed of the following stages (Figure 3):
- Exploration: a set of activities to search, analyse and interpret career information, that is, information on personal dimensions such as personality characteristics, personal and professional interests, life values, skills, and information about the different contexts in which the person is inserted (e.g., political, economic and social context);
- Goals definition: determining in a clear, concrete, realistic and evaluable way, for the short-, medium- and long-term, and for the different life roles, the goals or results that the person proposes to reach within his/her life /career;
- Design and implementation of action plans: identification and implementation of a set of activities, strategies, and behaviours in which the person will have to be involved, in order to increase the probability of attaining his/her career goals (Greenhaus & Callanan, 1994)
- Obtaining feedback and evaluation: verifying whether the initially proposed career objectives were achieved or not (Pinto & Taveira, 2010), thus assigning a cyclical character to the career management process (King, 2001).
Figure 3. Career self-management model (Pinto & Taviera, 2010)
Conclusion on the approaches to four theories on the construction of life projects
All these four theories have in common the fact of highlighting the personal agency in this process. These theories consider that, whilst the employers have had the main responsibility for career management of their employees in a logic of employment for life, where the individuals continued their whole professional life in the context of one or two organizations, the conditions changed in an increasingly unstable, unpredictable and dynamic organizational world. Nowadays, this responsibility has fallen almost exclusively on individuals, since they are expected to develop their careers in the contexts of various organizations throughout a lifetime of work, in addition to being able to have periods of their life where they are not even part of any employment organization. Thus, the end-user of this manual will need to support his/her participant in acquiring new skills for the development of life projects, so that in the future, and independently, he/she can solve problems and make decisions, consciously and informed, in the construction of his/her life projects.
These four theories are some of the scarce resources available to support Live2Work end users intervening in practice, inspired and supported by theoreticians that take in consideration the concerns of social justice in the context of building life projects. The traditional approaches to managing life/career issues have recognized merit but, given the unpredictable and chaotic environment experienced today, are no longer sufficient. Each of the theoretical approaches presented supports, on the one hand, the end-user by helping to intensify the development of competencies to undertake different roles, such as advocate, consultant and community empowerment advisor. On the other hand, they help the participant to recognize the structural barriers that impede their development and overcome them in order to benefit from unpredictable influences in his/her career.
Keep in mind
The construction of life projects in the perspective of the Systems Theory Framework
Recognizes the individuality of each client and is culturally inclusive and can thus be applied in a great diversity of international contexts
Constitutes a systemic approach insofar as it assumes the perspective of the “individual in context”
- Individual system
- Social system
- Environmental/ contextual system
- Process:
- Open, circular and recursive
- Permeability of the organizational boundaries
- Influenced by chance
- Personal agency
- Reflection
- Connection
- Meaning
- Learning
The construction of the life projects in the perspective of the Ecological Approach
Multiplicity of complex factors that influence human behaviour which is not compatible with a single explanatory theoretical model.
- Theory of the ecosystem of Bronfenbrenner (1992)
- Microsystem: e.g., family, peer group, school, place of job;
- Mesosystem: relations between family-work, parents-peers, home-school;
- Exosystem: e.g., labour market fluctuations, political decisions, changes in the health system;
- Macrosystem: e.g., moral, social, political, and ideological rules, norms, principles and values
- Chronosystem: temporal dimension – past, present and future
- Human behaviour is
- Contextualized
- Interactional
- Meaningful
- “A contextualized support, dependent on the meaning that people attribute to their interactions with the environment”
The construction of life projects in the perspective of the Chaos Theory Career self-management models
Reality is constituted by complex, open and dynamic systems à undergo continuous influences, which can be of 2 types: stability and change
- Complexity
- Change
- Chance
- Construction/connection
Change can occur as follows:
- Attractors
- Fractals
- Non-linearity
- Emergence
- Phase changes
Focus on an uncertain and unpredictable reality, having to assume two prevailing positions in the framework of its collaborative process: convergence and emergence
The construction of the life projects in the perspective of the Career Self-Management Models
Process of building life/career projects is fundamentally a problem-solving and decision-making process that occurs in a cyclical, systematic and intentional way throughout the life cycle of an individual
- Exploration
- Goals definition
- Design and implementation of action plans
- Obtaining feedback and evaluation
- Personal responsibility