ABBOTT L. FERRISS
SELECTIONS FROM SINET – THE SOCIAL INDICATORS NETWORK NEWS (Accepted 15 July, 1998)
LIVING CONDITIONS AND INEQUALITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Joachim Vogel (Statistics Sweden and the University of Umeå) prepared “Living Conditions and Inequality in the European Union 1997” (Eurostat Working Papers, Population and Social Conditions, E/1997-3; copy available from Dr. Vogel, Statistics Sweden. Box 24300, S-10451 Stockholm, Sweden) to report data from the 1994 European Community Household Panel of 12 member States and three recent Comprehensive Surveys of Living Conditions in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The 15-nation database includes 142 000 interviews. The report addresses education, employment, working hours, unemployment, the quality of working life, income and poverty, housing, material assets, social relations and health. In a synthesizing chapter, Vogel discusses the dimensions of inequality and its relations to the family institution, the labor market, and state social protection expenditures in the various EU nations. The major objective of he report is to contribute to the analysis of comparative statistics on living conditions in member states. Respecting inequality, European nations fall into three relatively homogeneous clusters: The Nordic cluster includes Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and sometimes the Netherlands. Here there is lower social class inequality but higher inequality between generations. The family has a larger impact on distribution of material living conditions than class. There is extensive social protection but small households, few extended families, early exit of the young from the household and very little elderly supervision of children. Social Indicators Research 52: 211–214, 2000. © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
212
ABBOTT L. FERRISS
The Southern cluster includes Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland and the U.K. Here high levels of social class inequality prevail and low impact of generations. The family buffers market effects on the non-active generations. The Central cluster includes Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and the U.K., and sometimes the Netherlands. It exhibits intermediate class inequality and intermediate generational inequality. In reviewing the Report for SINET, Kenneth C. Land (Duke University) comments that it contributes to social indicator literature in providing systematic comparisons of living conditions and levels of inequality in the EU. Subsequent reports, he adds, could add the temporal dimension to the analysis. The comparison also might be extended to other nations with household surveys, such as Canada, the U.S., Australia.
HISTORICAL PRICE INDICATORS FROM THE 12 TH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT
David Hackett Fischer in The Great Wave: Price Revolution and the Rhythm of History (N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1996; $30.00) has assembled time series of the prices of commodities, and other related social indicators, beginning with the 12th century and moving forward to the present era. Waves of inflation and price “revolutions” appear in the 13th , 16th , 18th and 20th centuries. Fischer relates these fluctuations to other social changes. There were periods of equilibrium following each “revolution”: the Renaissance equilibrium, the Enlightenment equilibrium, and the Victorian equilibrium. Fischer’s data come from the civilizations of Asia, India, China, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome and Greece as well as European countries. Remarkable annotated bibliography of 140 pages establishes sources. Those interested in long-term trends will find the volume rewarding, says Dudley L. Poston, Jr. (Texas A&M University) who reviewed the volume for SINET. Poston finds the book fascinating and “worthy” and comments upon three aspects close to his interests. He finds Fischer’s analysis weak in the use of econometric multivariate procedures. He faults
SINET – THE SOCIAL INDICATORS NETWORK NEWS
213
Fisher’s coverage of demographic studies, a subject of Poston’s expertise, as omitting coverage of important contributions in the history of demographic change. He has reservations on Fischer’s treatment of population growth and the basis for fertility change. Despite these limitations Poston considers the book a contribution to the study of long-term social change, and recommends it.
MONITORING THE PROGRESS OF THE WORLD
“The World Development Report 1997: The State in a Changing World” (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) reveals some bits of good news. Population growth is declining. Infant mortality is coming down, as also is fertility. Females are being schooled in greater numbers, especially in low-income countries. But, also, there is reason for thought. While per capita metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, 1980–1992, declined by one-half metric ton in high-income countries, increases in the rest of the world more than compensated for it. The average annual growth rate in the GNP per capita increased in most of the countries, but declined in low and lower middle income nations. The Report focuses upon the state, advancing recommendations for state’s to consider in order advancing human welfare. Reform is in order to advance progress. An active civil society and a competent bureaucracy are urged. The abuse of state power must be curtailed, especially in Africa. Modernization and decentralization is in order for East Asian countries. The erosion of corruption in the state’s affairs should be stopped. While social indicators of these and other affairs are offered, the program to improve the state government identifies many areas requiring social indicator measures to monitor future change. For 133 countries 124 indicators are presented. Topics include: basic indicators, macroeconomic indicators, external economic indicators, population and labor force, distribution of income and consumption, health, education, commercial energy use, land use and urbanization, forest and water resources, growth of the economy, structure of the economy, government budget, exports, balance of payments, and external debt. The World Bank data is on CD-ROM, which includes more than 500 indicators, presented in
214
ABBOTT L. FERRISS
over 1 000 data tables and 500 time series indicators for 209 economies The source: Information Center, Development Data Group, The World Bank, 1818 H. St., NW, Washington, DC 20433; tel. 800-590-1906. TWO NEW SOCIAL INDICATOR REPORTS ON U.S. CHILDREN
KIDS COUNT, 1997 edition, has been released, and a new Federal report is available, America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being (Federal Interagency Forum on Child Statistics, National Maternal and Child Health Clearinghouse, tel. 703-356-2536). The KIDS COUNT annual publication (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 701 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD 21202) presents ten indicators of child well-being for the Nation and each State. They include: Percent low birth-weight babies, infant mortality rate, child death rate, rate of teen deaths by accident, homicide and suicide, teen birth rate, juvenile violent crime arrest rate, percent of teens who are high school dropouts, percent of teens not attending school and not working, percent of children in poverty and percent of families with children headed by a single parent. The publication is designed to stimulate state-level discussion of programs and policy to improve the quality of life of children. The Foundation sponsors State-level presentation of the same indicators with county-level data for policy and program consideration at that level. America’s Children presents time-trend charts, mostly dating from 1980 to 1995–96, for 25 key indicators grouped into five categories: population and family characteristics, economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education. After reviewing the Reports, Kenneth C. Land ‘commented that neither attempted a summary quality of life a index for children. Recognizing that methodological work would be needed to construct sound indexes, Land considered them important as summary of the overall trends. #
# #
Editor’s Note: Reader’s contributions to this department should be addressed to: Abbott L. Ferriss, Editor Emeritus, SINET, Department of Sociology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, U.S.A. or by e-mail:
[email protected].
