ABSTRACT
Our current views about the developmental process in which career life planning occurs and career maturity is achieved are the product of a series of complex interactions among four lines of scholarly development in the history of psychology: our philosophical beliefs about work, the emergence of the discipline of differential psychology and the development of assessment techniques which was stimulated by that school, the development of theories of career development, and the development of career intervention strategies. Both the current status and future development of the field are dependent on advances in these areas. The previous chapters in this volume have focused on the second and third of these areas. This chapter proposes a point of view which encourages a reconsideration and expansion of our philosophical notions about the place of work in the life of the individual.
