Social Situation of Development: Structural and Content Analysis of the Concept in the Context of Professional Self-Determination

The paper aims to reveal the perspectives of applying methodological ideas comprised in the concept of social situation of development for the purposes of exploring the issue of professional self-determination. Drawing on the analysis of the concept's structure and content carried out by Russian psychologists, as well as on the out- comes of his own investigations into the problem of professional self-determination, the author defines the struc- ture of the social situation of development within the context of professional self-determination of an individual as a combination of objective (i.e. social context) and subjective (i.e. one's psychological readiness to profes- sional self-determination) components. The author argues for the necessity of individualization and subjec- tivization of the social situation of development and therefore suggests that the features of professional self- determination be studied in specific social situations of development, that is, in orphaned children, adolescents with deviant behavior, and gifted children. This would promote the development of such effective psychologi- cal techniques of assisting individuals in their professional self-determination which would take into account the age- and personality-related characteristics of the person's social situation of development.

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