Although racial identity theory has the potential to explain some aspects of career development, its value would be increased by conceptualizing race as a dependent variable in research and theory. Examples involving career salience, satisfaction, and satisfactoriness demonstrate the limitations of racial comparison studies. (SK)

The concept of nigrescence--formation of African-American racial identity--is useful for understanding African Americans' career development attitudes and behavior. Examination of research issues related to the influence of racial identity on values, opportunities, stereotypes, career decisions, and workforce diversity demonstrate that…

A group of 111 African American college students completed Turner's scales on perceived discrimination against blacks and women and a racial identity scale. Racial identity and perceptions of discrimination were not significantly predictive of traditional African American career aspirations. (SK)

Reviews the literature related to vocational behavior and career development published during 1981. Major categories include vocational behavior of women, vocational behavior of Blacks, assessment, aspiration and choice, life span aspects of careers, worker adjustment problems, and interventions. (Author)

This article examines the state of the art in this field, gathers together some of the diverse research strands symbolizing it, and presents, on the basis of the research reviewed, a profile of the Black individual in vocational literature. (Author)