DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

Claire described the business world she was working in as a “male culture
which has got a male mindset to what progress or productivity is” (p.20). She
described this male mindset as follows:
“It was about proving who was the strongest, it’s not about proving who is the wisest
or the most considerate. Doing something that produces the required results no
matter what the sacrifice to other people may or may not be, it’s not what I would call
doing one’s best. It’s thuggery, beautifully-groomed thuggery but nonetheless
thuggery.” (p.3)
Claire said that such an environment was “extremely damaging” to her sense of
femininity. She went on to controversially say that male-dominated workplaces
inevitably masculinise women:
“I think any woman placed in a male dominated workplace is going to become a sort
of abomination, she is going to become more and more male-orientated in the way
she does things, because she is in a community of people who do things a certain
way.” (p.20)
8.8 Separation from Extrinsically-Controlled Life Structure
All six participants leave the roles and relationships which they have
developed personas to fit in to, and upon leaving these roles can gradually drop the
persona act too. Frank and Rob were 30 when they separated from their old life
structures, and Mark was 36. All three lived according to the dictates of an
extrinsically controlled career for their early adulthoods up until this turning point of
the crisis – sacrificing enjoyment and satisfaction for money, status and safety. There
is now profound disillusionment with work. Mark for one now “hates” his job. Rob
now thinks advertising is just “dressed-up exploitation” (p.2), while Frank said:
“I felt that my job was absolute bullshit and that whole system was just cheating
people out of a good life, and that marriage was hypocritical, and I just absolutely
stopped caring.” (p.12)
Mark went to see a career counsellor, and said of this counselling: “I think a
few things did come out of that session, but I think the most significant is that it gave
me permission to open the door to the broader options.” (p.6). He came to realise that
“money and status, yeah, they are great, but they are not really me.” (p.5).
satisfaction:
Rob also had the dawning realisation that success and money haven’t brought
“I realised that it wasn’t about money, it’s that success/satisfaction conundrum. I had
all the success in the world, but it just wasn’t delivering satisfaction for me.” (p.14)
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