Making Good: How Young People Cope with Moral Dilemmas at Work - Softcover

Fischman, Wendy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674018303 ISBN 13: 9780674018303

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2005

Synopsis

You're young, ambitious, entering the field of your dreams; you're on your own, the competition is fierce--and then you see your chance: the big story, the big role, the big discovery. But you'll have to cut a few corners, bend the rules, cheat a bit. What choices will you make?

After studying more than a hundred young people launching their careers, these longtime researchers of "good work"--work that is both skillful and honorable--find unsettling answers. Although young workers know what it takes to do good work, they don't always feel they can follow the ethical route. "Later, when I'm successful," is their implicit promise.

Making Good explores the choices confronting young workers who join the ranks of three dynamic professions--journalism, science, and acting--and looks at how the novices navigate moral dilemmas posed by a demanding, frequently lonely, professional life. The authors also uncover striking comparisons between these young professionals and the veterans in their fields--most notably, older workers recall inspiring models and mentors, while today's beginners see themselves as on their own. With extensive insights into how young workers view their respective domains, the nature of their ambitions, the sacrifices they are willing to make, and the lines they are prepared to cross, this study will prove instructive to young employees and employers alike, as well as to those who wish to understand the shifting moral and social character of the working world.

About this title

About the Author

Wendy Fischman is a researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/pdf/FISMAK_excerpt.pdf

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0674018303
• ISBN 13: 9780674018303
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224