The quality of life in large American cities: Objective and subjective social indicators

The concept of ‘quality of life’ as a tool of comparative social indicators research is analyzed. Inter-city comparisons of objective and subjective measures of well being are presented and the distinctiveness of these two dimensions of the quality of life is documented. The paper concludes with some observations on the implications that this distinctiveness has for the use of the concept ‘quality of life’ in future social indicators research.     

Objective and subjective social indicators of the quality of life in American SMSA'S: A reanalysis

The paper examines and critiques Schneider's work that related the subjective and objective indicators of quality of life in American cities. The work then employs data collected by Liu in 1973, and the Institute for Survey Research in 1972 as part of their national election study for 41 large and medium-sized Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSA's) to re-examine the question of the relationship between the objective and subjective factors. Although the results of this paper are in general comparable with those obtained by Schneider, there are individual cases where they differ. The paper then concludes with a discussion of the reasons why objective and subjective indicators may coincide.     

Social indicators of perceived life quality

Modern societies in both developing and developed countries have real and legitimate concerns about the enhancement, maintenance, and redistribution of individual well-being. Indicators of perceived well-being provide direct measures of what societies are trying to achieve, permit cross-sector comparisons, can indicate the adequacy of coverage of ‘objective’ indicators, and can contribute to social policy making. in both the long and short run. Some commentators, however, have suggested perceptual indicators suffer from methodological weaknesses associated with their validity, interpretability, completeness, and utility. Each of these possible weaknesses is addressed in some detail. New research evidence and certain philosophical perspectives are presented, and it is concluded that none of these presumed weaknesses is sufficient to invalidate the development and use of perceptual indicators. Suggestions are made concerning methodological research needed to support the development of indicators of perceived well-being. It is noted that the materials and results developed in the author's research on Americans' perceptions of life quality may be useful for suggesting approaches to the development of indicators of perceived life quality relevant to other cultures.     

Political beliefs and subjective indicators of quality of life

A recent article by Buttel et al. argued that the subjective satisfaction of individual respondents with their personal lives may be related to their political ideological beliefs. Employing survey data collected in Wisconsin in 1974 they demonstrated a significant linkage between total life satisfaction and political cynicism. This paper proceeds to reanalyze their results, employing 1972 election data collected by the Survey Research Center. The paper argues that one must differentiate a standard measure of political cynicism from the type of measure employed in the Buttel et al. work. For the standard measure of political cynicism no linkage was found with total life satisfaction, but for a personal measure that was similar to the one employed in the Buttel et al. article there was a relationship. The previous results suggest that the findings of the Buttel et al. article were brought about by the unique manner in which they defined political cynicism.     

Subjective and objective indicators of regional quality of life in Switzerland

Mainly because of data limitations, direct comparisons between subjective and objective indicators of local or regional quality of life have been inconclusive until now. The 1978 opinion survey among more than 33 000 Swiss recruits representing about 80% of their age cohort allows one for the first time to disaggregate survey data regionally for all parts of a whole country. The portrait of 97 regions and 25 cantons of Switzerland, based on the recruits' assessments of their native commune, seem adequately to reflect the rich variety of quality of life experiences in this extremely decentralized and culturally heterogenous country. Evidence from several procedures for validating the opinion survey data is presented, among which comparisons between the subjective and selected objective indicators of regional quality of life prove to be most conclusive. In general, the intercorrelations between these two types of social indicators are astonishingly high. Some consequences of this result for the subjective vs. objective social indicator controversy are elaborated. Methodological considerations on the peculiar elusiveness of the quality of life category follow, indicating the outline of a workable methodology of usable social indicators knowledge.     

Objective quality of life indicators and the external validity of community research findings

We assessed how representative the objective quality of life in our research community was in order to provide a basis for judging the external validity of environmental-behavioral research findings that will emerge from future investigations. We also provided a methodology of evaluation that could be duplicated by other community study groups. The central city and county units of a U.S. Midwestern metropolitan area were categorized into four geographic reference zones with structural attributes that differentiated them along a city-suburban-rural continuum. Within this geographic frame-work, we were able to evaluate how eleven major categories of our community's quality of life compared, and to unambiguously assign the community's quality of life a position along the city-suburban-rural continuum.     

Measuring the concept of marital quality as social indicators in urban China

The research reported in this article examines the theoretical and empirical dimensionality of marital quality in urban Chinese marriages. Using survey data from the People's Republic of China, the author carried out a series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Results revealed that the quality of urban Chinese Marriages can be conceptualized as a two-factorial and multidimensional construct. To further validate and generalize this conceptualization, the very same CFA models were tested in both arranged and free choice marriages. The finding indicated that marital quality can be indeed measured by marital interaction, marital satisfaction, marital disagreement, marital problem, and marital instability indicators. This result is consistent with the marital quality literature in the United States.     

The social meaning of social indicators

While new modes of data processing have provided reams of data, there has been relatively less effort in seeking to comprehend the social meaning of results of empirical work. A set of previously developed indicators of urban social structure is here examined for its link to theory, and to the social structure of the city itself. The original indicators (size, social class, racial composition and community maturity) were empirically derived. In this paper, each is taken in turn, and explored with respect to several possible social meanings. Size, for example, is considered to be itself an indicator, and an imperfect one, for system complexity; percent non-white is seen to be itself an indicator for a slowdown in the mobility process, or a slower social metabolism. These and other results are suggestions, with illustrations, but not conclusive support, from other than the original data. While it is hoped that the theoretical suggestions may themselves be of interest, it is also hoped that approach itself can indicate the fertility and usefulness of going back to theory once empirical measures have been developed.     

Social indicators and social management

The social indicators movement, which has attained world-wide significance, is based on awareness of the increasing necessity for a conscious regulation of social processes, as well as on the successful utilization of the social sciences. Both of these processes depend on: the character of the social order in the different countries, conceptions of the nature and functions of science, and the nature and functions of social indicators. Irrespective of international differences, however, many common problems exist; this makes their discussion possible despite different philosophical and sociological paradigms. Two main problems are addressed: (1) the definition of the concept of “system of social indicators” and especially “unity of objective and subjective indicators”, and (2) the definition of the conditions for their most effective involvement in the purposeful regulation of the social processes.     

Some neglected social indicators

The attention now being given in the social sciences to time series indicators that measure the ‘Social Health’ of the nation is a most welcome development. Too often, sweeping claims of social change have very little hard supporting evidence. The new trend indicators offer the opportunity for more rigorous analysis of diverse subjects than is often employed in the ‘soft sciences’. Public opinion indicators show a decline in favor for U.S. business which has resulted in Congressional legislation of business, labor reform, restrictions on the environment, consumerism, and inflation. More restrictions can be expected if the social indicators are correct. Political indicators tell us that Republican party loyalty and allegiance have steadily declined since the 1950s and perhaps the ‘emerging Republican majority’ is merely a myth. There are vast implications to be derived from indicators that show the birth rate nearing zero population growth; religion steadily losing influence in America over the past 30 years; and, the youth are far more sober than the rebellious few who draw mass media attention. Social indicators have been very predictive of the future but largely ignored. A clearinghouse is needed to systematically monitor existing social indicators to avoid waste, duplication and downright reglect of important information.     

Population issues and social indicators of well-being

Relating demographers' measures of various population characteristics (size, growth/decline, density, age/sex structures, migration, et cetera) to measures of well-being recently developed within the social indicators movement promises to provide new knowledge about the linkage of population and well-being that can enhance decision making about important population issues. A conceptual schema is presented that suggests specific relationships to examine at various levels of aggregation, that helps to classify research already done in this area, and that helps to identify "holes" in the knowledge base. Some special methodological features of research in this area suggest considerable time and care will be required to produce dependable new knowledge. These include: (a) the inherent multilevel nature of the relationships (involving properties of individuals and collectivities); (b) the slow rate at which population characteristics change; (c) the absence of much good well-being data from the past; and (d) the limited nature of the collectivities for which population data are available.     

The Philippine social indicators project

The Social Indicators Project of the Development Academy of the Philippines (1974) aimed to formulate a measurement system capable of objectively depicting periodic changes in national development. It identified the following as basic Philippine social concerns: (1) Health and Nutrition, (2) Learning, (3) Income and Consumption, (4) Employment, (5) Non-human Productive Resources, (6) Housing, Utilities, and the Environment, (7) Public Safety and Justice, (8) Political Values, and (9) Social Mobility. This list is unique in considering political welfare. A multi-disciplinary research team selected 30 major indicators pertinent to these concerns. Although the majority are already encompassed by the Philippine statistical system, certain new indicators were proposed, including disability due to illness, human capital created by schooling, net beneficial product, families below a food threshold, an index of housing adequacy, an air pollution index for Greater Manila, an index of perceived public safety, indices of political mobility and efficacy, and indices of occupational mobility and perceived social mobility. A survey of 1000 households was used to demonstrate the feasibility of gathering needed new primary data, particularly those attitudinal in nature. An analysis of time series showed that certain aspects of Philippine welfare have been notably improving, but that others have been worsening; the direction of national progress can only be ascertained by admitting value-judgments on the relative importance of the several components of welfare.     

Regional indicators in social planning

Social planning requires the application of indicators as instruments for the measuring of phenomena and processes, for monitoring, and for evaluation. The spatial polarization of socio-economic growth together with individual regional features lead to the emergence of considerable differentiations and disparities. Many of them are perceived in social consciousness as ineqities which require equalization, e.g. living conditions in the sphere of satisfaction of elementary social needs. In order to be effective, social planning must take account of, among other things, the hierarchy of centres and institutions for satisfying social needs, which most frequently amounts to 3 ranks of service (local, regional, national). Each region possesses its own central area (centre) and peripheral area (periphery). The differences between them amount to the emergence of changing socio-economic structures together with a changing dynamic in development and rate of economic growth. The gradation of social needs comprised in social planning corresponds to the hierarchy of service centres. Regional indicators serve the analysis of inter-regional disparities as related to the external “model system”, and are most frequently national means, as well as of intraregional disparities as related to the internal “model system”, which are represented by means of separate regions. The selection of an appropriate set of regional indicators requires a lot of attention. The paper points up the danger of the application of inappropriate regional indicators, which cause distortions in the spatial picture of differentiations.     

Government take-over of the social indicators movement?

This note discusses the transformation of the social indicators movement from an ‘academic crusade’ to ‘routinized reporting by governmental agencies’, and the consequent risk of attrition in independent social research and innovative programmes.     

On the use of social indicators for planning

A social indicator in the context of planning, which induces a course of social change, is not a mere ‘good statistic’. While its validity depends on the relation drawn among its constituent properties, its relevance would depend upon the sequential relations it can draw with the other variables concerned with the envisaged course of change. And its necessity and efficiency will be rated accordingly as it can epitomize the situation which all these variables depict. A properly constructed set of indicators, therefore, may not only suggest the planning measures which should be employed but also throw light on a better formulation of the targets, goals and even the objective of planning. These points are briefly discussed in this paper with illustrations from India.     

Causes and indicators of housing quality

This paper examines the feasibility and validity of one method for combining measures of different dimensions of the quality of a household's housing situation into a summary index value. Housing quality is treated as an unobservable variable for which there are multiple observable causes and indicators. Alternative mathematical models are specified, and their parameters are estimated using data from a sample of low-income renter households in a major U.S. metropolitan area.     

Gender differences in the relationship of social activity and quality of life in community-dwelling Taiwanese elders

This study explores the gender differences in the relationship between social activity and quality of life (QOL). A cross-sectional survey of 220 community-dwelling elderly people was conducted in southern Taiwan. Social activity was classified into six categories. The brief version of the World Health Organization QOL (WHOQOL-BREF) was used to measure QOL. Findings revealed that the associations of six types of social activities with QOL were weaker among women than men. The regression analyses further showed that for women, only religious activity was positively related to total QOL, while for men only involvement in formal group activity was positively related to total QOL.     

Long-term social development of Hungary,measured by social indicators

Social indicators of social structure, urbanisation, level of living and social mobility chances are used to study the development of Hungarian society from the period of capitalist society to the present. The impact of socialist transformations, as well as the influences of the new economic and social conditions appearing in the second half of the 1960's and leading to the economic reforms are especially investigated. Modernization, the decline of inequalities of income and of social mobility opportunities characterized the socialist transformations. Since the mid-60's new tendencies are emerging that need careful investigation.