Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2xdlg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-17T13:48:09.014Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Some Reflections on the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Denis F. Johnston
Affiliation:
Sociology, Georgetown University

Extract

In retrospect, I think that the fate that befell the social indicators ‘movement's rich array of economic statistics and related measures were simply inadequate indicators of emerging developments and issues under prevailing conditions of rapid social change and severe social strains. The felt need was for more adequate monitoring and reporting of social conditions and processes – implying a need to develop improved measures of these phenomena, together with expanded data collection capabilities. Thus the dual goals of the social indicators movement were apparent from the start: to establish an improved social reporting capability as soon as possible, and to encourage longer-term research and development in the general area of social, measurement and model-building. It may be helpful, therefore, to consider the outcome of these two efforts separately.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

SELECTED REFERENCES

1977(a) Data Disaggregation for Main Social Indicators (Paris: OECD Social Indicators Development Programme, Special Studies No. 4.Google Scholar
1977(b) ‘Social Indicators and Social Accounts: A Developmental Strategy,’ Statistical Reporter, No. 77–8, 346–57.Google Scholar
1977(c) ‘Economic and Social Statistics in the Coming Decade: An Overview,’ Statistical Reporter, No. 77–10, 496503.Google Scholar
1978(a) ‘Postlude: Past, Present, Future,’ The Annals (of the American Academy of Political and Social Science), Vol. 435 (January), 286–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1978(b) ‘Social Indicators and Social Forecasting,’ in Fowels, Jib (ed.), Handbook of Futures Research (Greenwood Press, 423–48.)Google Scholar
1981(a) (with Michael Carley), ‘Social Measurement and Social Indicators,’ The Annals (of the American Academy of Political and Social Science), Vol. 453 (January), 237–53.Google Scholar
1981(b) (with Sally L. Hoover), ‘Social Indicators of Aging,’ in White Riley, Matilda (ed.), Aging From Birth to Death (Westview Press, Vol. II, chapter 0.)Google Scholar
1982 Social Indicators and Social Reporting in the United States, (UNESCO, Division of Socio-economic Analysis, Analytical and Methodological Studies, SS/C/44/82/2, 54PP.)Google Scholar
1983Census Concepts as Knowledge Filters for Public Policy Advisors,’ Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization, 5:1 (09), 99119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1985The Development of Social Statistics and Indicators of the Status of Women,’ Social Indicators Research, XVI:3 (04), 233–61.Google Scholar
1987 ‘The Federal Effort in Developing Social Indicators and Social Reporting in the United States during the 1970s,’ in Bulmer, Martin (ed.), Social Science Research and Government: Comparative Essays on Britain and the United States (Cambridge University Press, chapter 15.)Google Scholar
1988Toward a Comprehensive “Quality-of-Life” Index,’ Social Indicators Research, XX:5 (05), 473–96.Google Scholar