Sovremennye zarubezhnye issledovaniya zhiznennogo prizvaniya [Contemporary foreign studies of the phenomenon of vocation]

The paper discusses different views on life’s vocation - as God’s will, as a moral obligation, as an attitude to work, as a transcendental challenge, as a passion for a certain activity - and assessment instruments appropriate to each view. The studies were started in the USA and Europe and now continue in China, India and South Korea. Researchers keep offering new conceptions of vocation and assessment instruments, but the main challenge today is achieving a uniform understanding of the phenomenon. Research demonstrates that all approaches deal with one basic construct, the nucleus of which is a new dimension which a sense of vocation adds to professional activity and other spheres of life. Problems to be dealt with include the source of vocation, its pro-social direction, the role of religion and others. On one hand, vocation has a positive effect on satisfaction with work and life, smoothes effects of stress and emotional burning-out and helps to choose a career and a way of life. On the other hand, there is a risk of being overexploited by the employer, of having to sacrifice other life activities and of regretting missed opportunities if the vocation has not been realized. The main purpose of the article is to draw attention of national psychology to the phenomenon of vocation and trigger studies aimed at defining its role among the notions of meaning, choice, personal potential, self-realization, personalization.