ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the various meanings of ‘career’ in a changing world of work that is framed by neoliberalism. It considers what implications these different meanings have for social justice and career guidance. Based upon the results of several studies, ‘career’ is considered as a ‘bridging object’ between several involved parties. Further development of these results draws attention to the issue of shared responsibility, and highlights three conflicting perspectives of ‘career’: the perspective of organisational and business needs; the perspective of people´s everyday knowledge of career; and the perspective of the career guidance community. A tentative proposal is made regarding the implications that these conflicting perspectives have for the meaning that is given to social justice amongst the actors in each field.
