Graduate Students' Judgments about Clients: The Effects of Social Class

Abstract

Graduate social work students were presented with written case record materials in which the social class of the client was varied. The students were then asked to make clinical judgments about the client. Social class origin, age, and previous social work experience information was collected on each student. The findings suggest that clinical judgments vary as a joint function of the social class of the client and the social class origin of the worker, and that these relationships are complex ones that need further investigation.