10.1177/0011000004272268 THE COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST / March 2005 Blustein et al. / EMANCIPATORY COMMUNITARIAN APPROACH • Major Contribution An Emancipatory Communitarian Approach to Vocational Development Theory, Research, and Practice David L. Blustein Boston College Ellen Hawley McWhirter University of Oregon Justin C. Perry Boston College Building on recent calls for a more explicit and intentional endorsement of social justice goals within counseling psychology and vocational psychology, this article proposes Prilleltensky’s (1997) emancipatory communitarian approach to psychological practice as a useful framework for vocational theory, practice, and research. Such a framework emphasizes the distinction between the concepts of work and career and illuminates the extent to which traditional vocational psychology has attended to the needs of the people who experience little, if any, volition in their choices of career or line of work. We present a rationale for integrating an emancipatory communitarian approach into vocational psychology theory and the implicationsof this approach for future research and practice. Like many scholars and practitioners in counseling psychology (Chronister, Wettersten, & Brown, 2004; Fouad & Brown, 2000; Goodman et al., 2004; Richardson, 1993; Romano & Hage, 2000; Savickas, 1993; Vera & Speight, 2003; Watson & Stead, 2002), we have been humbled by the vast social problems, particularly in relation to the maldistribution of wealth and power, that exist in the United States and other nations. We also believe that psychology has not attained its fullest potential to inform the development of solutions to ameliorate these social problems (cf. McClure & Russo, 1996; Prilleltensky, 1997; Vera & Speight, 2003; Watson & Stead, 2002). In vocational psychology, the major issues associated with the social and economic problems of the 21st century are unequivocal in that one is forced to confront one of the most obvious domains in which they translate into 141 Portions of this paper were presented by Blustein and McWhirter as part of a symposium entitled “Building the Next Stage of Career Development—New Theoretical Innovations” (Fouad, N. A., Chair), during the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, August 2000, Washington, DC. Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to David L. Blustein, Boston College, Campion Hall-315, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467. E-mail: blusteid@bc.edu THE COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST, Vol. 33 No. 2, March 2005 141-179 DOI: 10.1177/0011000004272268 © 2005 by the Society of Counseling Psychology.