Social Situation of Development: Structural and Content Analysis of the Concept in the Context of Professional Self-Determination ²²⁶⁸

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.

Keywords: social situation of development, specific social situation of development, structure of social sit- uation of development, professional self-determination

Column: Developmental Psychology