Addressing Social Class in Counselor Education Curriculum

Social class is a salient construct to address in the counseling profession. Research on social class and its impact on individuals is not a recent occurrence (Grusky, 2014). From its sociological origins to the world of economics, research on social class has informed scholars’ development of policy and interventions. Nevertheless, research on social class is an area of growth for the counseling profession (Cook & Lawson, 2016). Scholars have started to address social class within the counselor-client relationship (Clark et al., 2020; Cook & Lawson, 2016; Liu, 2001; 2011; Strum & Gibson, 2012), but the social class curriculum in counselor education has not received as much attention (Pietrantoni & Glance, 2019). This dissertation includes two manuscripts: a brief historical context that sought to understand social class from its sociological underpinnings to our current understanding of social class in the counseling profession, to finally, interventions counselor educators can implement in the classroom to better serve clients through an intentional social class lens conceptual. The second manuscript builds on the first by exploring counselor educators’ social class awareness and pedagogical practices in multicultural counseling courses. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore counselor educators’ social class awareness and pedagogical practices in multicultural counseling courses. Participants included four counselor educators from CACREP-accredited programs in different ACES regions and with 4-7 years of faculty experience. Data sources included one semi-structured interview, course syllabi, and assignments, and an instructor questionnaire developed for this study. Assertions made from this study included = creating self-awareness about social class in counselors-in-training, addressing social class through a lens of intersectionality, and attending to social class as a matter of social justice for individuals in lower-class statuses. Based on these assertions, I provide implications for counselor educators to address social class within their multicultural courses and further the research agenda on social class.