Cultural Context in Career Theory and Practice: Role Salience and Values

Career theory and practice have long emphasized person variables (e.g., abilities, needs, interests) and have only recently begun focusing on environmental variables in addressing cultural context issues. Contemporary emphasis on contextual variables reflects notable movement toward attaining cultural relevance in career theory and practice. Role salience and values, which are central to developmental perspectives on career and have been considered in other approaches, are key contextual variables that can be examined to make additional progress toward this goal. The author argues that examining the cultural dimensions of social roles and values can enrich theory and enhance practice regarding life‐career development.