Using Social Class in Counseling Psychology Research

Social class is an important cultural construct, but it is poorly used in research. Problems in using social class may be associated with its poor definition in previous studies; conflating between social class and socioeconomic status; using objective indices such as income, education, and occupation rather than subjective measures; regarding social class as an adult experience; and not focusing on classism. Supporting the need to redefine social class, a content analysis of 3 counseling journals between 1981 and 2000 was conducted. Three thousand nine hundred fifteen articles were reviewed, yielding 710 articles using social class. Results showed social class was used in more theoretical than empirical articles, there was inconsistency in measuring social class, and 448 different words to describe social class. Recommendations for future research are discussed.