1830s |
- Social reformers using statistical indicators to improve public health and social conditions in Belgium, France, England and the US.
- Temperance movement in the US – used data from poorhouses and jails to show that alcohol was the cause of crime and acreage of grain devoted to alcohol production to show that production was economically wasteful.
|
1869 |
- US Bureau of Statistics created
|
1884 |
- US Bureau of Labor created – labor statistics were among first social statistics to be gathered on official basis
|
1910 |
- Russell Sage Foundation gave grant to Charity Organization Society (of New York) to survey industrial conditions in Pittsburgh
|
1929 |
- Pres. Hoover establishes Research Committee on Social Trends, led by William Ogburn
|
1933 |
- Ogburn’s committee releases report: Recent Social Trends
|
1940s-50s |
- After Great Depression and during WWII, interest in social indicators wanes, nation pays more attention to economic indicators (GDP developed during this time)
|
1960s |
- Though economic indicators useful and successful, critics charge that economic indicators being given undue priority.
- Social indicators therefore developed in an attempt to rationalize social policy as economic indicators had rationalized economic indicators
|
1966 |
- Raymond Bauer writes Social Indicators, the product of a by NASA-sponsored project, initially aimed at determining the impact of the space program
- Birth of the “indicators movement”
|
1967 |
- Senator Walter Mondale and others introduce the Full Opportunity and Social Accounting Act of 1967 – called for preparation of annual social report to the President
|
1968 |
- Russell Sage Foundation releases Indicators of social Change – successor to 1933 report
- Report authors opposed premature application of social indicators to social policy, argued for basic research and better data
|
1969 |
- US Department of Health, Education and Welfare releases Toward a Social Report – expressed the view that indicators should tell us if moving in the right direction, be relevant to setting policy and help evaluate the effectiveness of social programs
|
1972 |
- Russell Sage Foundation publishes The Human Meaning of Social Indicators – a companion to Toward a Social Report, concerned with psychological data (attitudes, expectations, aspirations, values)
- Conference on social indicator models held by Russell Sage Foundation, papers presented there published in 1975
|
1974 |
- Journal Social Indicators Research founded
- US Office of Management and Budget publishes first of three volumes of Social Indicators – many hoped this to be the beginning of institutionalized national reporting, but federal efforts to produce indicator reports ended after third volume in 1981 largely because the descriptive statistics were seen as weak in explaining social phenomena
|
1975 |
- Russell Sage Foundation publishes papers presented at 1972 conference
|
late 1970s-80s |
- Interest in and priority of social indicators again wanes, primarily due to conflict within movement over immediate goals of movement, also because data collection and management systems limited
|
1990s |
- More localized community indicators projects begin to be formed – largely in response to political changes in 1980s shifting control of social programs from national and state level to local entities, these entities want relevant data to guide decisions
|
1992 |
- United Nations Rio Summit introduced framework for developing ‘indicators of sustainability’
- Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) initiated program conducting nation-wide environmental performance reviews to help nations improve their environmental performance
|
1995 |
- OECD holds International Conference on Indicators for Urban Policies
|
1996 |
- President’s Council on Sustainable Development recommends that federal government collaborate with private sector and NGOs to develop national indicators of progress towards sustainable development
|
1997 |
- Urban Institute launches National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership
- The Boston Foundation launches the Boston Indicators Project
|