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  • © 2017

Making Career Stories

Navigating Work and a Sense of Security

Palgrave Macmillan

Authors:

  • Provides timely insight into how people manage career insecurity and seek concrete narratives

  • Deals with issues that cut across a range of disciplines and sub-disciplines

  • Builds a new framework of "career security" for the modern world

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
  2. Career Security – An Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. Situating This Study on Career Security

      • Mark Scillio
      Pages 3-32
    3. Conceptualising Career Security

      • Mark Scillio
      Pages 33-53
  3. Being in Organisations

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 55-55
    2. Tina – The Quest for Material Security

      • Mark Scillio
      Pages 57-69
    3. Rita – The Public Service as Refuge

      • Mark Scillio
      Pages 71-81
  4. Going It Alone

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 117-117
    2. Fabian – Searching for Proper Reward

      • Mark Scillio
      Pages 119-132
    3. Enzo – Becoming Entrepreneurial

      • Mark Scillio
      Pages 133-147
    4. Selina – Finding Self-Belief

      • Mark Scillio
      Pages 163-177
  5. In-Between Places

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 179-179
    2. Sharon – Discovering a Profession

      • Mark Scillio
      Pages 181-195
    3. Fran – Between Unemployment and Vocation

      • Mark Scillio
      Pages 197-207
  6. Conclusion

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 209-209
  7. Back Matter

    Pages 229-238

About this book

This book is about how people construct career stories: the stories we use to make sense of our work life. Mark Scillio explores the idea of security in the current turbulent employment climate, investigating employment experiences in developed, wealthy countries like Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom—where careers have become fragmented, complex, and uncertain. Using Anthony Giddens’ notion of ontological security, Scillio develops a concept of career security that goes beyond economic and financial concerns and encompasses the personal and social meaning of work. The ramifications of succeeding (or failing) to forge a good career narrative are explored through a series of detailed case studies.



Reviews

“Mark Scillio vividly tells the stories of middle Australians and how they are negotiating changing work worlds. Their experiences are recounted with precision and theoretical virtuosity, but also with care and sensitivity. I got to know these people.” (Nicholas Hookway, Lecturer in Sociology, University of Tasmania, Australia)

“In this timely, empirically rich study, Scillio provides a sophisticated account of the career stories that we tell ourselves in order to make sense of our lives and our work trajectories. He innovates by developing the concept of career security which enables us to reach beyond the objective factors associated with income and employment conditions to consider also the subjective meanings that are forged as individuals grasp the social and personal meanings of work. This book is highly recommended for students and specialists in the field.” (Simon Stewart, Deputy Director of the Centre for European and International Studies Research, University of Portsmouth, UK)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Australian Catholic University , Fitzroy, Australia

    Mark Scillio

About the author

Mark Scillio has worked as a university lecturer, adult educator, policy advisor, and social researcher. He currently teaches sociology at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne.


Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 24.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access