Social Work Education and Student Ideology: A Multivariate Study of Professional Socialization

Abstract

Three socioideological measures were administered to 136 social work students, assessing their attitudes toward human nature and their etiological explanations of poverty and affluence in human lives. The study found that graduate students scored significantly more negatively and conservatively on the human nature scales than did undergraduates. Previous social work practice experience by students was found to be unrelated to the attitudinal traits measured. The study concludes with a discussion of both the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.