On school-to-work transition, career development theories, and cultural validity

The authors respond to Duane Brown's (2000) claims about the deficiencies of person-environment, social learning, developmental, and social cognitive theories as templates for studying and promoting the work transition of racial/ethnic minority students. They (a) suggest that the degree to which theories are generalizable across cultures and subcultures is an empirical question, not a matter to be decided by fiat; (b) counsel against the assumption that cultures exert uniform effects on the career behavior of their members; (c) consider certain mischaracterizations of the career theories; and (d) entertain the possibility that work transition may be studied from the perspective of both generic and culture-specific career theories.