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Counselors' Social Class and Socioeconomic Status Understanding and Awareness
Author(s) -
Cook Jennifer M.,
Lawson Gerard
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of counseling and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1556-6676
pISSN - 0748-9633
DOI - 10.1002/jcad.12103
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , social class , class (philosophy) , psychology , social consciousness , class consciousness , social status , social psychology , consciousness , developmental psychology , sociology , medicine , environmental health , political science , computer science , social science , population , artificial intelligence , politics , law , neuroscience
Nine licensed professional counselors participated in semistructured interviews designed to reveal their awareness and understanding about social class and socioeconomic status (SES). Findings suggest that participants' descriptions of social class and SES often are incongruent with how they use the terms, and their awareness and understanding may be limited because of developmental factors, indicating potential clinical liabilities. The authors suggest that counselors should develop stronger social class consciousness to provide affirming counseling services and that further research on such strategies is needed.