Extending the metaphor of narrative to dialogical narrator

Extending the metaphor of narrative to dialogical narrator

This chapter is a consideration of the epistemological scope of the social constructionist paradigm in vocational psychology and career development, and the core construct
of narrative. The term narrative psychology (cf. Sarbin, 1986) ostensibly implies a coherent body of theory and attendant literature, however, the literature is far from
established or settled with considerable diversity across epistemological positions (Smith & Sparkes, 2006), no definition of its paradigmatic composition as focus of enquiry (Hoshmand, 2005), nor an agreed understanding of its core construct, narrative (Collin, 2007; Hoshmand, 2005; Polkinghorne, 1988). To what extent a putative agreement on narrative as a construct impacts upon theorising and research in the career development field has not been clearly addressed in the literature.
This chapter has two main aims. First, this chapter is an acknowledgement of the need for a socially constructed consensus and agreement on the form, function, and,
moreover, the processes of the core construct narrative, as it pertains to research into career development. Second, this chapter is an acknowledgement of the diversity of theoretical perspectives that may underpin research into narrative. Accordingly, the chapter includes an alternative perspective on narrative. Recent scholarship has argued for the relevance of dialogical self theory (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010; Hermans & Kempen, 1993; Hermans, Kempen & van Loon, 1992) to career and learning (Winters, Meijers, Lengelle & Baert, 2012), along with other works aimed at achieving some level of conceptual integration with theories of career development (McIlveen, 2007c; McIlveen & Patton, 2007a). Dialogical self theory is presented as an alternative theoretical framework to address the form, function, and process of career narrative.

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