American Social Attitudes Data Sourcebook, 1947–1978

A unique record of trends in social and economic attitudes and perceptions held by the adult American population over the past three decades is now available for the first time in composite book form from the archives of the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. The volume represents a culling of sample survey items which have been repeated at multiple points since World War II, presented in clear time-series form both for the population as a whole, and for standard breakdowns by age, sex, race, and social class.

Nearly 100 variables are included, ranging from subjective reports of social class location or frequency of church attendance, through racial attitudes and perceptions, to views on women’s roles, work and retirement, life quality, family financial situations, the state of the national economy, government spending, and war and peace.

This compendium of texts, tables, and time-series graphs shows provocative patterns of constancy and change in the social and economic perspectives of the population, complementing and illuminating “hard” population and economic data for the same period from the Census Bureau and other government sources. It is a critical reference book for sociologists, political scientists, contemporary historians, journalists, political commentators, and others.