Chapter 2: The History of Work Values: Morals, Measurement, and Meaning Making

This chapter offers an historical perspective on the meaning and practical use of work values. An elusive construct, values long have been overshadowed with regard to careers, and in psychology generally (Dukes, 1955; Prentice, 2000; Rohan, 2000), by the “big three [individual differences variables] of abilities, interests, and personality traits” (Dawis, 2001, p. 464). Values nonetheless figure prominently in the history of career theory and intervention. In keeping with the present volume, this chapter seeks to move values from the margins to the mainstream of careers. Doing so recognizes the value of values for connecting people to occupations in the individual differences tradition (Dawis, 1991, 2001), clarifying vocational self-concepts in the developmental tradition (Super, 1990), increasing self-efficacy in the social-cognitive tradition (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2002), and constructing meaning through work and career in the social constructionist tradition (Savickas, 2011; Savickas et al., 2009).