Career and cultural context: collective individualism, egalitarianism and work-centrality in the career thinking of Norwegian teenagers

Career guidance in Norway has seen major developments over the past two decades. Secondary schools have integrated career education and guidance into an education system which socialises young people to develop citizenship and take part in society. In this article, I explore how Norwegian teenagers’ career thinking is influenced by Norwegian cultural values which are strongly associated with the Nordic model of welfare: collective individualism, egalitarianism, and work-centrality. Teenagers’ and counsellors’ thoughts about career are explored through qualitative interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. The analysis shows that in conversations about career choices, teenagers and counsellors refer to these concepts, but in ways varying most notably along the urban-rural, academic-VET, and adult-teenager dimensions. Implications for career guidance are discussed.