In Part II we look at careers through a different lens. Whereas in Part I we considered different streams in the career literature, in Part II we examine career theory through the multiple lenses provided by social science disciplines. As we said in the Preface, the concept of Part II was to ask scholars not necessarily associated with the study of careers to look at the domain of their particular fields and to “think careers” while they did so. We asked them to pull out concepts from their area that they thought could be useful in understanding how people's work behaviors and attitudes change over time as a career unfolds.

While it is clear to us why each of the following chapters is important, we have been unable to come up with any obvious sequence in which to present them. If Part I of this handbook showed us the present landscape of career theory, Part II is the garden store of new materials with which the landscape might be changed. And we hope readers will agree the store is full and the materials tempting. To preview the selections, there are ideas drawn principally from psychology (Bell and Staw, Latack, and Marshall, Chapters 11–13, respectively), organizational behavior (Arthur and Kram, Derr and Laurent, Chapters 14 and 22), social psychology (Weick and Berlinger, Chapter 15), sociology (Rosenbaum, Thomas, Chapters 16 and 17), political science (Pfeffer, Chapter 18), anthropology (Trice and Morand, Chapter 19), economics (Barney and Lawrence, Chapter 20), and rhetoric (Gowler and Legge, Chapter 21).