ABSTRACT
Marxism posits that work is the primary activity by which a system of social relations is organised and reproduced, meaning career guidance is positioned at a potential nexus of social transformation. Recognising this, some critical scholars advocate for moving guidance away from psychology toward sociology and other disciplines whose analyses contextualise and politicise the individual. Yet, while any emancipatory politics necessarily contains robust sociological and political-economic analyses, it should not abandon the individual as a site of revolutionary potential. With a theoretically sound Freudo-Marxist synthesis and an ideologically consistent political approach, career guidance might retain some optimism about the potential for individual and social transformation despite the repressive realities of mainstream psychology and guidance and capitalism more broadly. A re-engagement with the theoretical and philosophical assumptions of different political approaches may help critical scholars and practitioners clarify or recommit to their political stances and recalibrate their daily practices accordingly. With this rationale in mind, this chapter will explore political stances in career guidance, building towards a case for a radical politics of confrontation and refusal.
