The Psychological Contract

I started this book immediately after reading Margaret Atwood’s Payback and was struck by the similarities. Both are well researched, cramming a wealth of ideas into relatively few pages. And coincidentally both tackle the subject of debt. Granted, Atwood is more obvious in her exploration of debt as a social construct through the ages; while Christeen George tackles the psychological contract – “debt” by any other name – and its complexities.Much has been written about the psychological contract since the term was first coined in the 1960s. But, as George reminds us, we still lack a deeper understanding of this intangible notion, based on subjective perception and individual definitions often leading to mismatched expectations.