Marsden - Social trends in American life: findings from the General Social Survey since 1972

Social Trends in American Life

Findings from the General Social Survey since 1972

Edited by Peter V. Marsden

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Princeton and oxford

Copyright 2012 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW

press.princeton.edu

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Social trends in American life : findings from the General Social Survey since 1972 / edited by Peter V. Marsden.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-691-13331-7 (hbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-691-15590-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Public opinionUnited States. 2. Social surveysUnited States. 3. United StatesSocial conditions. I. Marsden, Peter V.

HN90.P8S63 2012

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

This book has been composed in Minion and Myriad

Printed on acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To James A. Davis

In the fall of 1971, James A. Davis requested National Science Foundation support for a project titled Twenty-some Questions: A National Data Program for Sociology. The idea was to assemble survey data covering a wide range of sociological topics for a representative sample of the U.S. adult population and distribute them immediately and cheaply to all interested researchers. Daviss proposal suggested specifically that some 20 questionson such topics as race relations, happiness, and trust in peoplebe added to an ongoing omnibus survey that already measured basic sociodemographic characteristics such as sex, race, and education. In retrospect, his proposal seems very modest.

That proposal led to the initial (1972) round of the General Social Survey (GSS). As actually implemented, it contained many more than the 20 questions of interest to social scientists that Davis had argued for, together with items from other projects about fluoridation of water supplies, dental care, national health care, hobbies and extracurricular activities for children, and playing musical instruments. The GSS became a stand-alone survey a year later.

Among signature features of that first GSS were its broad topical diversity and its commitment to timely and widespread dissemination of datathe latter a quite novel concept at the time, commonplace though it has become in the Internet age. Among the projects principal goals was advancing research and teaching in the social sciences by making high-quality social survey data accessible to students; as a 1973 Dartmouth College senior, I was an early beneficiary of this. It also sought to allow researchers to easily replicate, reexamine, and check each others findings by making primary data available to all. Davis envisioned a program of repeated surveys, stressing standardized survey proceduresespecially regular representative sampling of the U.S. adult population and administering particular items in unchanged form each timein order to measure time trends.

Since then, the GSS has grown into a large and very widely used databasenot only in its home discipline of sociology, but across the social sciences. Thousands of published research articles and books draw on its data, now comprising survey responses by more than 55,000 independently drawn Americans. Hundreds of thousands of students annually use the GSS while learning statistical methods or preparing research papers and projects. From time to time, topical modules question respondents in greater depth about particular subjects, and the range of subjects itself has grown to include such topics as sexual behavior, gay marriage, immigration attitudes, and contemporary racial stereotypes, among many others. Beginning in the mid-1980s, collaboration between the GSS and similar projects conducted elsewhere in the world developed the International Social Survey Programme, which facilitates internationally comparative survey research.

The essays in this book highlight the GSSs value as a resource for studying U.S. social change as reflected by attitude and behavior trends that now extend over more than three decades. At least one of the contributing authors of each chapter has long experience and deep familiarity with the GSS project, either as a principal investigator or as a member of its Board of Overseers. Several of them have previously published trend analyses based on the GSS that cover shorter time spans, as many other social scientists have. This book is distinctive, however, in presenting a set of trend analyses covering a range of topics thattaken togethersketch broad contours of recent U.S. change in phenomena including intergroup attitudes, political orientations, religious beliefs and behaviors, social connectedness, and subjective well-being. The value of the GSS database grows with each additional round, which not only portrays the state of social life in U.S. society at a particular point in time, but additionally adds to a growing archive of prospectively collected information tracking change in the views of ordinary Americans.

* * * * *

This book would not have been possible without the sustained support and dedication of numerous individuals and institutions needed to develop and maintain a program of ongoing survey data collection to monitor the state of U.S. society. Many agencies and foundations have provided the necessary financial resources for the National Data Program for the Social Sciences over the years. The most substantial and enduring funding comes from a series of awards made by the Sociology Program at the National Science Foundationthe most recent of which is cooperative agreement SES-0824618that support collecting and disseminating GSS data. These awards fund the collection of the replicating core items on which the trend analyses in this book center and much additional GSS content. Of course, any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Above and beyond financial support is the often-underappreciated intellectual and technical expertise required by a data collection and dissemination project that extends over decades. More individuals than I could hope to name here have contributed to the GSS in these ways, but it would not be what it is without the unmatched and unmatchable commitment of Director Tom W. Smith, whose encyclopedic knowledge of the project and seemingly limitless energy are legendary. Among many other contributors, I want to acknowledge over 80 social scientists who have given crucial guidance to the project as members of the GSS Board of Overseers and its predecessor bodies.