Socialization into a Profession: The Case of Undergraduate Social Work Students

In order to test the hypothesis that undergraduate social work students become more committed to certain values and to a professional orientation rather than to a client, agency, or community orientation, data were collected from students in one accredited program at the undergraduate level. Data also were collected from two contrast groups of non-social work majors. The total sample was 367 students. Both social work students and the contrast group students demonstrated higher scores on a Public Dependency scale when more courses were taken in social work. Social work students, as a whole, were more professional in their commitment than those from the contrast groups.