Graduate dreams without graduate schemes: A critical look at graduate leadership prospects in psychology

This article will argue that widely accepted ‘objective’ and ‘systems-based’ accounts of leadership are far from value-neutral. Here I offer a critical analysis to dissect how concepts of leadership contribute to the reproduction of systems of power within the world of work, focusing specifically on the field of psychology. I do this from the perspective of a psychology graduate navigating employment and career progression in the context of the UK. In doing so, I aim to show how success and leadership are closely married to economically productive work. I describe how this manifested in career opportunities available to me and my peers during university, shedding light on how students from some degrees and disciplines end up being more ‘employable’ than others. The implications of this culture on social change and human wellbeing are discussed, and it is argued that radical changes in understandings of leadership are needed in psychology to resist the profit-oriented working world.