Difference in client assessment according to the client's social class and the counselor's subjective social class level

Recently, as the accessibility of counseling has improved, clients from various social class has received counseling through diverse channels. In order for clients of various social class to receive the full effect of counseling, counselors need to consider various social classes sensitively when understanding the clients and appealed problem. At this point, it is necessary to check whether counselors in Korea are free from bias due to social class. The purpose of this study is to find out whether there is a difference in the client’s evaluation by counselors (clinical impression and favorability) according to the client’s social class and the level of subjective social class perception of the counselor. This study is based on the virtual client’s intake interview questionnaire(vignette) of the 60 counselors in Korea and graduate students majoring in counseling. As a result of the analysis, the social class of the client did not significantly affect the counselor's evaluation. This suggests that counselors in Korea can be relatively free from social class bias. Finally, several possibilities that may have influenced these results and limitations and suggestions of this study were discussed.