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Doubts about the easy equation of economic growth & social progress in the 1960s led to renewed interest in social measurement & to the birth of the 'social indicators movement.' Social Indicators, 1976, (US Office of Management & Budget), a product of that interest, can be read as both a report on social conditions & trends in the US & as a progress report on social indicators research. The volume is best understood against the background of the social indicators movement & of the research it has stimulated. Several research traditions are joined together in the social indicators movement, but they share a concern for measurement, analysis, & the reporting to a general audience of aspects of social conditions. The tradition best reflected in Social Indicators, 1976 stresses monitoring, & reporting social change. Research in this tradition emphasizes conceptual & methodological development of measures, improvements in available data bases, development of social indicator models, & social reporting. In its data selection, treatment of data, organization, & commentary, Social Indicators, 1976, is an improvement over Social Indicators, 1973, though its analysis is notably insufficient. Most of the improvements which should be found in future editions depend upon continued progress in the development of social indicators. 3 Tables, 3 Charts. Modified HA.

Social measurements are differentiated from social indicators by their ultimate objectives, even though both are interdependent in social evaluation & explanation. While social measurement tries to obtain reliable quantitative data on social phenomena for a variety of interests & purposes, social indicators present evidence more closely related to problems of human well-being. Three problem areas in developing social indicators are identified: (1) technical problems related to social measurement; (2) sociopolitical problems, eg, ideological biases in problem definition, data presentation, & interpretation; & (3) communication problems that impede the effective presentation of information to policymakers & the general public. Modified HA.

This bibliography is intended to be a working list of sources representative of the new field of social indicators and social accounting. It includes both a sampling of works that outline theoretical developments in the field and some illustrative attempts to develop social indicators and reports. For the sake of brevity, only collections of papers have been provided with annotations which indicate the titles and authors of articles contained therein. A review of this bibliography will illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of the social accounting movement. Because social accounting originated so recently and is developing so rapidly, the majority of the references bear dates of 1965 or later. Inasmuch as this bibliography is a selection of readings, it obviously makes no claim to inclusive-ness.

Doubts about the easy equation of economic growth and social progress led, in the 1960s, to a renewed interest in social measurement and to the birth of the "social indicators movement." Social Indicators, 1976, a product of that interest, can be read as both a report on social conditions and trends in the United States and a progress report on social indicators research. The volume is best understood against the background of the social indicators movement and of the research it has stimulated. Several research traditions are joined together in the social indicators movement, but they share a concern for measurement, analysis, and the reporting to a general audience of aspects of social conditions. The tradition best reflected in Social Indicators, 1976 stresses the monitoring and reporting of social change. Research work in this tradition emphasizes conceptual and methodological development of measures, improvements in the available data base, the development of social indicator models, and social reporting. In its data selection, treatment of data, organization, and commentary, Social Indicators, 1976 is an improvement over its predecessor, Social Indicators, 1973, though the analysis it contains is notably insufficient. Most of the improvements which should be found in future editions depend upon continued progress in the development of social indicators.

Many of the activities of academic social indicators research during the 1970s were successful and the results found remarkable attention in scientific, political and public discussion. Soziale Indikatoren is a key word in all recent German social science dictionaries and several textbooks have been published. The outcomes of social indicators research had a strong impact on the establishment of governmental social reporting. (SJK)