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453 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. vii (1981)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0453 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE This is the fourth time that THE ANNALS has devoted an issue to the subject of social indicators. Like its immediate predecessor in 1978, this issue deals with a number of the salient statistical series which are presented in the re- port issued by the federal government entitled Social Indicators III, which appeared late in 1980. As in previous reports of this kind, the focus is on a number of indicators rather than on a single global indicator. There is no single indicator which can satisfactorily answer the question, How are we doing? Answers might be found in objectively reported factual information. Alternatively, they might be found in the perceptions which people have of their conditions and in their evaluations of recent and future changes. The nation has recently been through a political campaign in which we have again experienced sharp differences of interpretation of the same set of hard data. There have been a number of efforts to develop an overall index of the quality of life, and Social Indicators III presents one set of such indices for states and counties. Statisticians in the Department of Agriculture have developed a set of three composite indices which could be computed on a county basis. They cover areas known as socioeconomic, health, and aliena- tion. A major advantage of the consolidation of numerous series lies in the ease of presentation through county maps. However, administrative and program officers and research workers want also to go behind the general picture and to see how specific indicators behave. It is increasingly recognized that statistical series are not normative. In fact, they are often ambiguous. Interpretations of any series of data vary a great deal, depending on the background against which they are seen and the potential actions which may result. Differences of interpretation and of actions to be taken in response to a series of objective data may be illustrated by citing some of the series re- lating to social welfare. It would be difficult to find anyone who would disagree with the proposition that society should provide assistance to per- sons and families in need. But reactions to the following facts range all the way from extremely wasteful to utterly inadequate. Statistics show an increase of seven times in real dollars for all income maintenance programs between 1950 and 1976. By 1975, 15 percent of the total population was receiving benefits under a social security program, social insurance pay- ments accounted for about 12 percent of total personal income, and 90 per- cent of persons who were 65 years of age or older were receiving social NOTE: A grant from the National Science Foundation (SES-8005078) helped make publica- tion of this volume of THE ANNALS possible. The American Academy of Political and Social Science is grateful for this support. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recom- mendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation. vii

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