Chapter one of this book started out extremely confusing to me. I was alarmed by the phrase “global economy” when it kept popping up. I have never been extremely politically- or economically-minded, so the concept of an interconnectedness of all country’s finances was foreign (pun intended) to me. I found myself googling things like “NAFTA” (2012) because I haven’t learned about that since high school government class.

Finally, Brown won me over on page six with his talk of social justice. Brown gave concrete examples of gender and race discrimination, which is typically a prevalent topic in the media, so therefore something I can respond to. But to take it one step further, Brown related the discrepancies in employment rates and wages back to the problem of outsourcing, which had been discussed earlier in the chapter (2012). Then again on page eight and nine we were able to see stories laid out for us to make a point about economic success and variables. Those examples and relations are the only way this book will be even remotely understandable.

Once I got through the dense introduction, I began to be able to formulate educated questions about the reading. The first one that came across was about the different models of proper career development. It seemed that the “Empowerment Model” was a better alternative than the seemingly close-minded (“people can choose to better themselves”) Traditional Approach; however it seemed a tad communistic, which, you know, may not necessarily be a problem. I continued to find it interesting that postmodernism was so quickly dismissed, even by Brown, just because Prilleltensky wasn’t interested in it (2012). 

I thought it was funny to get to the section on page 13 called “The Language of Career Development” because Brown emphasized how important it is to understand the vocabulary related to the topic and used the example of the word “work” (2012). I realize he was talking about how it’s important as counselors to tailor our communication properly for anyone we are counseling, but the irony that this passage followed the 12 pages with the least understandable vocabulary I’ve ever read.

But to finish with a positive note, I appreciate how, on page 15, Brown talked about his recognition of the phrase “career development.” This came after a page spent on defining the word “career,” so this particular phrase really encapsulates his respect that it is difficult to define what a career is, what the correct career is for an individual, and the fact that it is a lifelong journey that is worth looking into.

Brown, D. (2012). Career Information, career counseling, and career development (10^th           ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.