In the category of Career Development on the National Counselor Examination (NCE), the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE), or another counseling exam, you might come across information about the Theory of Circumscription and Compromise.
Covering Linda Gottfredson’s Theory of Circumscription and Compromise, we’ll discuss four stages of developmental growth related to careers that the theory lays out. We’ll also discuss the four parts of circumscription and three important aspects of compromise.
Gottfredson states that there are four developmental processes that must occur.
What is the first development process? The first process is cognitive growth. Simply, this recognizes that as a child grows and matures, they will be able to see the world of work in an increasingly complex way.
What is the second developmental process? The theory considers us to be active in our own self-creation, which is the second process. As well as us having our own roles in this, it feels genetics and our environment will also contribute to us. This results in each person being unique, even when compared to siblings.
What are the other processes? The third process is circumscription, and fourth is compromise. We’ll look at both of these in more detail below as they’re the primary components of the theory.
In general, circumscription is about removing occupations that do fit us and our ideas of ourselves. This is fine-tuned through four stages. These four stages are something Gottfredson believes every child processes through, but at their own pace. Therefore, the ages each stage takes place at are approximate. She also believed that stages can overlap.
Stage One: Orientation to Size and Power – This stage takes place from around ages 3 until 5. During this stage, children are moving away from magical ways of thinking. As such, they are starting to categorize people into broad categories or big or little and weak or powerful. Grottfredson believed this is also when they first start to become aware that adults have jobs, and that they will one day be an adult and need to have a job themselves.
Stage Two: Orientation to Sex Roles – This stage takes place from approximately age six to age eight. At this point, the child is thinking in more concrete terms. They’re recognizing more occupations and making simple distinctions. Their awareness of occupations they engage with is especially increasing, such as teachers. They are also becoming more aware of occupations that stand out in some way, like a job that has a specific uniform, or careers that involve a large truck that draws attention.
Also at the second stage, their thinking is more rigid and dichotomous than other stages. Gottfredson believed that at this point, children are beginning to separate occupations into categories for men and women. At the same time, they are beginning to be subtly pointed toward jobs that match their gender, and subtly steered away from those that don’t.
Stage Three: Orientation to Social Valuation – This stage occurs from ages nine to 13. As the child ages, they are recognizing more occupations and their awareness of social hierarchies and class are expanding. The child is also recognizing more of the factors that signify social class, such as a person’s clothing, speech, and behavior.
At the same time, their mental categories for occupations are expanding. Not only are they putting jobs into categories for men and women, they are also factoring in the level of prestige for careers as well. Likewise, the child is gaining more awareness that the job they choose will be perceived by others in one way or another.
As a result, by the end of this stage, they will have eliminated many jobs for themselves. Although not necessarily on a conscious level, they will have cut out jobs they feel are too socially low ranking, those that do not fit their sex role, and occupations that they feel are too difficult to attain. At this point, jobs that remain are said to be in the social space, and an ideal job for them holds the idealistic aspiration.
Stage Four: Orientation to Internal, Unique Self – This stage starts around age 14. During this stage, the youngster is beginning to sort through careers more consciously. They are also better understanding their abilities, interests, and values, and putting these together with potential occupations.
In the fourth stage, the child is starting to understand and recognize other factors related to jobs. The theory states that girls will often start to become more aware of (and concerned about) factors such as work/life balance and how they may or may not be able to care for their family as a result of a job. For boys, they are weighing how a job may help them support their family.
Holland’s typology of personality and work can be used to depict how someone is thinking about careers at this point. Although, it should be noted, they are not consciously sorting careers in this way.
The last phase is compromise. At this point, the person is more actively determining what jobs might be interesting, while also figuring out how easily accessible a career is. Gottfredson notes three components that often factor into this phase.
First, people tend to make decisions only when they have to. Meaning, this phase is something people will typically only do when they need to find work. It’s not something they will typically do when investigating a career path. She notes that people will often only pursue more information related to the jobs they find the most interesting. Furthermore, their information tends to be limited as they often only use family and friends as their sources.
Second, people who are well connected tend to be the ones who get information on a wider variety of jobs. Additionally, people who are more active consumers will get more information compared to those who are more passive. Those who are more active also tend to be put into more situations where they can find more jobs and gain needed experience.
Third, when people can’t find a job that matches their sex-type, prestige level, or interests, they tend to prioritize jobs that match their gender. When someone is faced with occupations that are all equally acceptable for sex type fit, they will most often prioritize the level of prestige over the field. If both the sex type and the level of prestige are somewhat acceptable, then they will then try to find an occupation that is a good fit for their interests.
