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Summary
The rapid media progress substantially influences society; it takes up a place in
pedagogical research and affects the choice of a career in the youth. The author believes
that the link between the mass media and the career choice is a topic of increasing
importance in research today; yet there is no research on this aspect of the career
choice in Latvia as well as the lack of theoretical literature on this subject. The aim of
the research is to justify theoretically and study empirically the career choice of young
people in the context of the media socialization. The following research questions were
put forward: is there an essential coherence between the career choice in the youth and
the mass media? Do the mass media affect their career choice positively?
In the theoretical part of the research, the author analyzes theoretical literature and
explored the carrier choice in the youth in the context of media socialization. The career
is a process, the purposeful action of an individual aimed at competence development;
thus, it is a life-long activity that the individual is responsible of him-/herself; its
organization and criteria for success are defined internally, not externally. The youth is a
time period for which the development of I is typical: the identity including professional
activity. Regarding the career choice, the shift from the period of experiments to the
period of a real choice is typical in the youth. One of the external factors that affects
the career choice and identity in the youth is the mass media – television, radio, press,
and the Internet. Regularities exist between reasonable decision-making and critical
media competence since critical media competence promotes a conscious choice of the
career and facilitates reasonable decision-making.
The empirical part of the research consists of empirical data collection and
processing: a survey and data analysis using the SPSS software. Opinions of youths
and experts are explored, revealing that there is a close link between the career choice
in the youth and the mass media; a definite answer to the second research question
was not found as many young people and experts think they are undecided whether the
mass media positively affect their career choice or discourage them from making career
choices. The answer to the question how the mass media affect the career choice reveals
that young people value such functions of the mass media as providing information, the
opportunity to become familiar with the activities of the representatives of the chosen
profession via the media, advertising some professions, giving positive references,
motivating further independent search for information, and encouraging to reflect on
the chosen profession. According to the data obtained from experts, the mass media
serve as sources of inspiration and deeper inquiry into the chosen profession, and help
to establish societal concepts of some of the crucial career values.
Keywords: career, career choice in youth, mass media, media culture, critical
media competence, career education.