Careers, Personality, and Adult Socialization

Adult identity is largely a function of career movement within occupations and work organizations. Mannheim's model of the bureaucratic career is too simple to apply to most occupations. Recruitment for positions exhibits typical, but not necessarily obvious, regularities. Positions offer characteristic opportunities for training for mobility or impediments to it, among which loyalty is important. The timing of change raises problems for organization and personnel. The psychological stress attendant upon mobility varies by type of career.