Social Work Commons^™

The Political Economy Of Admissions, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

A conceptual model of graduate social work admissions highlighting the societal implications of admission decisions is set out in this paper. Admissions, it is argued, can be viewed as a resource allocation process in which the distribution of various resources – goods and services, status, authority and professional autonomy – is altered. The authoritative allocation of status within the status economy of the profession is set forth and defended as the key allocation dimension of admissions processes.