"ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, The"

Gross, Bertram M.; Springer, Michael

doi: 10.1177/000271626737100101pmid: N/A

The variety of approaches and subjects in this volume reflects the information explosion in social indicators. Current expansion of social indicator activity has been given impetus by: (1) the growing awareness of the contributions and limitations of economic information; (2) the implementa tion of the Planning-Programming-Budgeting System within the federal government; and (3) specific proposals for in creased utilization of social information, such as the Technol ogy Commission's call for social accounting, annual Social Reports of the President, and a "Full Opportunity and Social Accounting Act." Normative concerns require that our "data system" remain unsystematic, with promotion of both multiple sources and dissonance. Furthermore, the development and use of social information should not be thought of solely in executive agency terms—there is a creative role for Congress in this area.

Williams, Robin M.

doi: 10.1177/000271626737100102pmid: N/A

Because values, defined as generalized criteria of desirability, are deeply involved in all of the specialized areas treated in this volume, much of the needed analysis is implicit in other articles. There remains a need to render explicit the first-order tasks for making data on values a viable part of societal self-awareness and self-direction, in an age of Great Societies. Values are important causal compo nents in individual conduct and in the functioning of social systems. To develop adequate indicators for the needed analysis will require major efforts and much ingenuity. Yet practicable methods already are available for the systematic empirical study of values. Because of the lack in the past of standardized measures and comprehensive reporting, the existing data are scanty, fragmentary, and diffuse. Yet cau tious and imaginative use of existing information has added to our knowledge of distinctive value patterns in the United States, and some illuminating comparisons have been made with other societies. Better data and more explicit analysis of value problems will enhance effectiveness of goal-achievement, widen the scope of awareness in decision-making, and provide enhanced capacities for sensing limits and hazards in current societal trends and policies. That new problems thereby will be created is inevitable, and not undesirable.

Konvitz, Milton R.

doi: 10.1177/000271626737100103pmid: N/A

Our political institutions are based on certain moral principles. Some are stated in the Constitution; others, unmentioned, are necessary to give "breathing space" to those enumerated. The freedoms expressly stated may be inter preted as expressions of even more fundamental values. And the Constitution also protects the traditions and collective conscience of our people. However, it is not enough for a nation to profess to be a democracy. Totalitarian states have made the same profession. A nation must look at the facts to estimate the degree to which it lives by its ideals. We have, on the one hand, our values, and, on the other, a con siderable amount of data which show how inadequately the values are fulfilled. There is an unconscionable lag of time between proof of malfunction and its cure. The problem is, then, to get the guardians of our goals to read the indicators. There are enough instances of honest governmental report ing to warrant the calculated risks of relying on it. We also have private watchdog organizations interested in civil liber ties, and their efficacy is shown in their record. Watchdogs —like the presidential veto—are built into our political system, and independent observers of our national scene also con tribute to raising our sights. However, there still remains a need for a privately financed organization for research into civil liberties.—Ed.

Scammon, Richard M.

doi: 10.1177/000271626737100104pmid: N/A

The report of the Kennedy Commission on Registration and Voter Participation, the 1964 Current Population Survey of the Census Bureau, and other data indicate a number of facts about United States voter par ticipation. People tend to "overstate" their participation in elections. Men vote more than women, the middle-aged more than the young and the elderly, whites more than Negroes. The curve of voter turnout parallels those of education and income. Turnout is lower in the South than in other areas and also varies by urban, suburban, and rural areas. Turn out is generally greater in elections for higher government levels and greater in general than in primary elections. One group of nonvoters is deterred by such major legal-administra tive obstacles as citizenship, registration, and absentee voting requirements, racial and religious disabilities, and administra tive regulations for voting times and locations. A second group of nonvoters are those who meet legal-administrative requirements but exhibit "lack of involvement." Age, sex, and social-economic status affect lack of involvement. So do importance and closeness of elections and competitiveness of the political atmosphere. Total voter participation in elec tions is a dubious goal. Perhaps the goal should rather be to increase access to the polls by eliminating or altering legal and administrative barriers to voluntary voting.—Ed.

Fontaine, André

doi: 10.1177/000271626737100105pmid: N/A

United States mass media are probably the world's greatest, and in excellent health, more mature and more responsible today than fifty years ago. But they are not good enough because: (1) People do not believe what they read; (2) the media do not have enough or the right kind of information; (3) editors need more power; and (4) there are large gaps in knowledge of the impact that the media have on the audiences. Once these shortcomings have been remedied, the media can face the really difficult questions of the times: (1) To what extent has newsmen's reportage only of the dramatic distorted readers' concepts of reality? (2) To what extent has media's exploitation of violence made violence prevalent? (3) To what extent have media contributed to increase in promiscuity and the cheap ening of sex? (4) To what extent have the media contributed to the popularity of extremism and the devil theory of international relations?

Duncan, Otis Dudley

doi: 10.1177/000271626737100106pmid: N/A

The functions of indicators to measure fullness of participation of minorities in American society can best be understood by relating them to strategic junctures in the socioeconomic life cycle. Data for Negroes, in particular, reveal the operation of two types of handicaps—those common to all members of the society subject to disadvantages of back ground or misfortune, and those specific to minority status. To distinguish between them, and thus to measure progress in reducing discrimination, requires not only comprehensive time series but also methods and models suited to the analysis of causal sequences. Despite the growing fund of valuable indi cators of the status of "nonwhite" Americans, a number of statistical hazards must be circumvented before reliable infer ences and realistic recommendations become possible. In reaching interpretations in this field, social science should operate as a "third force," complementing the work of policy- makers and program-administrators, on the one hand, and civic action groups on the other. Present knowledge is inadequate to the task of formulating specific proposals for redirecting trends. It could rapidly become more nearly adequate with the availability of sufficient resources for research, full co- operation of official statistical agencies, freedom to investigate so-called sensitive problems, and concerted attempts to im prove analytical and interpretive models. For the moment, we can only be sure that formidable obstacles remain in the way of achieving freedom from discrimination.

Glaser, Daniel

doi: 10.1177/000271626737100107pmid: N/A

Optimum procedures for measuring the preva lence of crime vary tremendously by type of offense, because these procedures depend on whether the crime creates a death, a complaining victim, a satisfied customer, an annoyed audi ence, or a dangerous condition. Assessing the effectiveness of criminal correction requires long-term data on criminal careers, to compare the subsequent criminality of similar of fenders who receive different kinds of correctional action. The formulation of crime reduction goals must take into account the instability of crime definitions, and the social costs of crime control actions, in addition to the dimensions of crime. Because of the multiplicity of data sources and the breadth of perspective required for this diversity of measurement, it should be the primary responsibility of a single national agency, to be assisted by the many other agencies now oriented to segments of this task.

Fisher, Joseph L.

doi: 10.1177/000271626737100108pmid: N/A

In the United States, the problem of sheer quantity of raw materials has given way in importance to the qualitative problem of environmental pollution. On the quantitative side, physical and economic indicators and goals are available, but on the qualitative side, such goals and indi cators are more difficult to conceive and work with because the more subjective problems of individual and social welfare must be taken into account. As exemplified by the water- quality studies of the Delaware Estuary, probably the basic indicator for social welfare would be the net social benefits (minus costs or losses in some sense) that would result from various selected measures to deal with a specific problem. Where estimates of benefits seem impossible, a second-best objective would be minimizing the social costs of selected measures. In view of the interrelatedness of environmental pollution problems, the concept of the "environmental problem shed" has been suggested—taking into account the various interrelated physical and social problems and indicators within a given area. Research is also needed on the processes by which environmental quality standards and programs are reached, the direction and rates of change for which statistical indicators are necessary, and to create and improve the indi cators of trends in environmental pollution and its effects on people.—Ed.

Gottehrer, Barry

doi: 10.1177/000271626737100109pmid: N/A

Many people believe that the future direction of modern cities will be considerably determined by the success or failure of New York City's present experimentations. When Mayor Lindsay's administration took office (1966), the city's fiscal affairs were in serious disorder, and the govern mental structure was chaotic and wasteful. For years, founda tions and special committees had been issuing reports calling for reform of the proliferation and duplication of agencies. Mayor Lindsay's administration has initiated fiscal reform and a sweeping governmental reorganization. Integrated with these programs is the Mayor's new program-planning-budget system which defines governmental programs actively in terms of evaluating alternative ways to reach program objectives. Fiscal experts agree that New York must receive substantially increased federal and state aid, and Mayor Lindsay is join ing with other city mayors to press for additional federal funds. The Mayor is also advocating greater regional ties for solving regional problems; increased home-rule powers; and Neigh borhood Mayors' Offices throughout the city. Improving the quality of and co-operation between the cities' agencies and setting up task forces independent of the bureaucracy will also be major goals. In the long run, however, the success of these reforms will depend on the judgment of the man at the top.—Ed.

Moynihan, Daniel P.

doi: 10.1177/000271626737100110pmid: N/A

Solving United States urban problems is an increasingly important concern of the public and of govern ment officials. Social science can make an important contribu tion to solutions by providing urban social indicators. Three general propositions concerning this process are: (1) Social scientists must be prepared for accusations of betrayal from proponents of causes which they have previously supported, if data conflict with objectives of such causes. (2) How indi cators are developed will influence at what level problems are resolved. (3) Social indicators will be developed by profes sors and government executives whose judgments will be based on a value-background different from that of the urban masses being measured. In the light of these propositions, four guidelines for social indicators are suggested: (1) They should be in the realm of disaggregation and correlation. (2) As they cannot be apolitical, they must be pan-political. (3) They should be concerned with the future as well as the present. (4) They should provide comparisons of local, national, and "best practice" data. The indicators should report urban conditions in three categories: (1) people as individuals— numbers, distribution, density, mobility, employment, income, behavior, health, and participation rates; (2) f amilies—un— employment and welfare statistics' correlations and "poverty neighborhood" studies; and (3) institutions—public service and voluntary organizations, business, mass media, education, and urban ecology.—Ed.