Several months ago my associates and I published the results of a research investigation into the determinants of occupational choice, on which we had been engaged for a considerable number of years-Occupational Choice: An Approach to a General Theory (Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, & Herma, 1951). (Sections I and II of the Bibliography, pages 255-256, list the books and articles related to the problem of occupational choice published by the authors, and the Master's Essays supervised by the Director which are in the Columbia University Library. There is a total of 21 items.) This investigation formed one link in a much longer chain of basic research into human resources which has been under way at Columbia University since the late 1930s, interrupted only by World War II. This helps to explain why an economist, psychiatrist, sociologist, and psychologist joined forces to study occupational choice.Convinced that a fruitful field for research and important implications for policy lay within the broad domain of human resources, we have been concerned with building bridges between the social and the psychological disciplines. Neither the conventional framework of the social scienceseconomics or sociology, nor that of the psychological disciplines-individual psychology or psychiatry, appeared adequate. Our primary objective has been the development of a theoretical structure for the study of human resources. We recognized, of course, that we could not hope to build such a structure in one act. At best it would be a slow and arduous undertaking which would require careful excavation and a sound foundation before we could safely proceed with the erection of the superstructure.We started to work in the late 1930s when unemployment was the challenge of the day, and our early efforts were directed toward the study of "what unemployment does to people." There were two major products:
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