The Cultural Context for the Pursuit of Vocation

Authors

Charles Seeley, Grand Canyon University & The Leadership Center (Honduras)Follow

Abstract

How does the cultural context influence the pursuit of vocation? How does culture influence the decisions that young people make about the life direction they pursue? This qualitative, ethnographic study was conducted to discover and describe the motivational influences in the lives of students and graduates of The Leadership Center, located in rural Honduras, as they traveled a journey through high school and on to The Leadership Center in pursuit of a vocation. The sample of study participants consisted of thirty young women, thirteen graduates, and seventeen students of The Leadership Center. While the culture of Honduras was not explicitly investigated in this study, facets of the culture of rural Honduras were mentioned by study participants more than any other topic. The culture of rural Honduras forms the context in which the pursuit of education and vocation takes place. Both the motivational influences driving study participants in the pursuit of education and vocation, as well as the barriers holding study participants and others back, have their roots within the culture of rural Honduras. Culture, as it turned out, is an essential contextual element when studying the pursuit of vocation. The literature contains very little about the influence culture has on the pursuit of vocation. One possible reason for this is that most of the research on vocation has been limited to predominately White subjects living in North America (Ryan D Duffy & Dik, 2013, p. 433). This lack of cultural and geographic diversity in the study of vocation "makes it impossible to know how calling is defined and functions" (p. 433) with individuals in other racial and ethnic groups, other cultures, and other countries. This study contributes to filling this gap through an understanding of the cultural context for the pursuit of vocation by young women living in rural Honduras.

Recommended Citation

Seeley, Charles (2019) "The Cultural Context for the Pursuit of Vocation," Journal of Research Initiatives: Vol. 4: Iss. 3, Article 9.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/jri/vol4/iss3/9