Sherry
Thank you, that's brilliant! I'm not sure that's the original quote I found all those years ago, as I'm fairly sure I've never read that book (though I will now, it looks excellent), but it's perfectly phrased and gives me a quote and a citation, which is what I need, so the bottle of wine (plus a promise to get that book chapter finished!) is yours. Thanks also to Hugh, Michael and Wolfgang for helpful responses - interesting to note that offering alchol as an incentive triggered a near-instant response to my query from four of our most eminent career scholars...
For anyone else who might want to use the phrase, the full quote is "It has been said that individuals' lives are the stage on which societal changes are played out", and it is on page 2 of:
Dex, S. (Ed.) (1991). Life and work history analyses: qualitative and quantitative developments. London: Routledge.
Cheers
John
Hi John,
Are you thinking about Dex (1991; from the book Life and work history analysis)
"individuals' lives are the stage on which societal changes are played out"?
Take Care, Sherry
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 8:53 PM, Blenkinsopp, John
<John.Blenkinsopp@tees.ac.uk> wrote:
Hola folks!
Early in my research career I came across a quote which said something like "The great trends of society are played out on the stage of individuals' careers". I loved both the idea and the quote...so of course I didn't write it down and also promptly forgot where I'd read it. I've been trying to track this down for years and trying today, once again, to work out where it comes from, it suddenly struck me that someone on CAREERNET might recognise it.
I always thought it was C Wright Mills, but I can't find it, and some people familiar with his work have told me it doesn't ring bells with them. However, over the years the quote has probably gone through a fair amount of memetic mutation in my head, so though I'm confident that the idea is as per the quote above, the actual wording may be very different... My best guess, if it isn't Mills, is that it comes from someone coming directly or indirectly out of the Chicago School...but again, all these years later, I wouldn't be surprised to discover it's a line from Dickens or a Beach Boys lyric!
Anyway, if anyone can point me to the quote and its source, they'll earn my eternal gratitude and a nice bottle of wine next year in Montreal!
Best regards
John
--
Sherry E. Sullivan, Ph.D.
Distinguished Educator, Southwest Academy of Management, 2008
Outstanding Educator, United States Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship, ESD, 2008
Southern Management Association Fellow
Co-Editor, Research in Careers (2009-2013)
Co-Author, The Opt-Out Revolt: Why People Are Leaving Companies to Create Kaleidoscope Careers (2006)
Dept of Management,
College of Business
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
ssulliv@bgsu.edu419-372-2366