Beyond Script Destiny: Chance and Circumstance in the Life Course

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to the development of Berne's psychology of human destiny, going beyond what Berne (1972) referred to as “script destiny.” The author draws a distinction between the life script and the life course, with the latter including influences of chance and circumstance on life outcomes. These influences include being born into a particular culture, gender, sexual orientation, and racial/ethnic identity as well as into differences of social class, economic status, and family educational levels. Against a backdrop of what he perceives as a risk society, the author proposes that many clients' life outcomes can be related to such unscripted influences of fortune and misfortune, social advantage and disadvantage, chance encounters, and the effects of differences in risk perception. In relating these to issues of assessment and intervention, he highlights the role of choice in, and responsibility for, life outcomes when integrated with the essential roles that chance, circumstance, and risk play in the process of change.

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