Social Indicators Research (2005) 72: 115–120

© Springer 2005

ABBOTT L. FERRISS

SELECTIONS FROM SINET – THE SOCIAL INDICATORS NETWORK NEWS (Accepted 9 December 2003)

WORLD CULTURE INDICATORS: A BEGINNING

UNESCO has issued its second volume on cultural indicators, listing festivals, culture practices and trends, ratification’s of human rights and other conventions, trade and communication, languages and translations, cultural context such as education and human capital indicators. World Culture Report, 2000: Cultural diversity, conflict and pluralism. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7 place the Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France. UNESCO P8ublishing, pp. 416, ISBN 92-3-103751-X. The report includes a CD-ROM, Guide to Cultural Resources on the Web. (The first World Culture Report was issued by UNESCO in 1998.) Nearly 599 leading national folk and religious festivals are listed by country. These celebrations reinforce cultural values and practices and bring to the fore the vital energy that arises from unique patterns of dance, song, and other inheritance. The introduction to the volume points out that the basic concepts, analytical methods and indicators are only now being constructed in the field of culture. The authors assert that “cultural indicators cannot be constructed without solid theoretical and conceptual grounds to build on.” The Report calls for indicators that are “policy driven.” Countries Contributed Data Data for the volume were assembled by questionnaire that were distributed to countries in spring 1999. Popular festivals include celebration of independence, establishment of the republic, etc., and religious festivals, such as Navidad,

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Immaculate Conception, etc. Other festivals celebrate labor, the Queen’s Birthday, and notable heroes. The seven parts of the volume include cultural activities and trends (i.e., newspapers and books), cultural practices and heritage (language and religions, national festivals), ratifications of UN Human Rights conventions, cultural trade and communication trends, translations by original language, and cultural contexts, education and human capital. In his reviews of the Report, Leif Gouiedo anticipated that, to achieve “policy driven” cultural indicators “a lot of work by national and international agencies lies ahead.”

MODELS FOR ANALYZING MARKETING DATA

Marketing research involves the collection, processing, and analysis of data on topics relevant to marketing, according to Lehmann (1998). Marketing studies are important to QOL researchers because they identify an avenue to improve the QOL. Philip Hans Franses and Richard Paap, Quantitative Models in Marketing Research. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Hardback, $45.00, Cambridge University Press, 40 West 20th St., New York, NY 20011, tel: 211 924 3900, ext. 310. Six models are described in separate chapters, each following a uniform outline: representation and interpretation, estimation of model parameters, model diagnosis and inference, illustration, and advanced topics. Text for Undergraduate and Graduate Courses The Franses-Paap text offers a guide for undergraduate and graduate courses, and to practitioners, to precise modeling approaches to marketing data. Its use should improve the quality of analysis of marketing data and hence improve marketing decisions. The Appendix gives an overview of matrix algebra to acquaint the student with the notation used in the book. Cambridge University Press also has issued the second edition of its Cambridge Dictionary of Statistics (hardback, $50).

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WOLFGANG ZAPF HONORED FOR DEVELOPING SOCIAL INDICATORS IN GERMANY

The founder of social indicators research in Germany, Wolfgang Zapf, reached 65 years in 2002. His friends helped him celebrate the event at Griebnitz Lake, located where the ‘wall’ once separated East and West Germany. Beginning in the 1970s Zapf began research on the QOL, initiated the welfare survey, and contributed to improved social reporting. Born April 25, 1937, in Frankfurt am Main, he studied economics and sociology in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Cologne. His diploma work was written at the Frankfurt Institut fur Sozialforschung. He moved then to the reform university at Konstanz as assistant to Ralf Dahrendorf. There he wrote “Theories and Indicators of Modernization.” In 1968 he received his first Chair at Frankfurt University. There with Hans Jurgen Krupp he helped establish the Social Political Decision and Indicator System for the Federal Republic of Germany. Later, he joined the faculty of the University of Mannheim, 1972 and 1987. To Berlin He then headed the Social Structure and Social Reporting Division of the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fur Sozialforschung. He also became Professor at the Free Universitat Berlin. He was Dean of the Manheim Faculty for Social Sciences, founder of the section on Social Indicators in the German Society for Sociology, Chairman of the German Society for Sociology, and President of the Science Center Berlin. In honor of Wolfgang Zapf, three scholars have compiled a “Festschrift” entitled, “Sozialer Wandel und gesellschaftliche Dauerbeobachtung” (Social Change and Social Monitoring). The volume was edited by Wolfgang Glatzer, Ronald Habich and Karl Ulrich Mayer, and published by Leske & Budrich. The volume addresses questions about German Society in the process of change. The challenges of modernization are addressed, including urbanization, vocational education and value change. The transformation of East Germany after unification is discussed. In tribute to Zapf’s work, welfare research is explored, including topics of wealth, poverty, and quality of life. There is a section on Social Monitoring and Social Indi-

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cators, and finally, Science and Political Counseling. Most of the authors are German but the Netherlands, Sweden and the USA are also represented. Zapf was one of the most influential social scientists in Germany from the 1960s to the end of the 20th century. His contribution to social indicator and QOL research has been far-reaching.

AUSTRALIAN SOCIAL INDICATORS: SOCIO-ECONOMIC, WORK, WELFARE, EDUCATION

Australia has produced a social indicator volume which, according to the reviewer, Kenneth C. Land, “represents high quality social science-based social indicators analysis and social reporting . . . much more than a chartbook . . . The authors draw upon a larger store of social science theories, concepts, and analyses. The result is a fascinating study of the social fabric of Australian society and how it has changed in recent decades . . .” The principal authors, Mariah Evans and Jonathan Kelley are associated with the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, the University of Melbourne. Many chapters of the volume are co-authored; these include: Peter Dawkins, Bruce Headey, Ben Jensen, Peter Krause, Craig Littler, Joanna Sikora, Maria Rebecca Valenzuela, Elizabeth Webster, and Krzysztof Zagorski. The Reports: M. D. R. Evans and Jonathan Kelley, 2002: Australian Economy and Society; 2001: Education, Work and Welfare. Leichardt, NSW, Australia: The Federation Press (Address: 71 John St., Leichhardt, NSW, 2038, Australia; tel: +(02) 95522200; e-mail: [email protected]. Education, Work and Welfare Three themes are featured in this volume: social differences, changes over time, and international comparisons. The social differences theme examines the similarities and differences among Australians. Experiences include age, gender, social class and ethnic origin. Among the questions addressed: To what degree do these differences lead to different treatment? To value or prefer different things?

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Two major eras characterize the changes over time: the first period extends through the 1970s, generating standardization and economic boom, security of job, constant wages, and “invisible welfare.” Since the 1970s. globalization has entered, tariff barriers have relaxed, leading to lower prices for consumers. Some noncompetitive industries have transformed or died. The knowledge industries have grown while regulation of the labor market has relaxed. As inequalities have grown, social conflicts have appeared. Comparison of Australia with English-speaking and other societies leads to identifying Australian uniqueness as well as commonalties. Data and analysis explore education, employment, industrial relations, political economy, health and welfare, and retirement. Examples of results follow:– The trend in the ratio of women to men in higher education: Australia paralleled the U.S. and Canada. About 1985 women began exceeding men in higher education. The trend in completing secondary and higher education shows Australia paralleling the U.S. and Canada, but at a lower order. About 50 percent of the Australian population complete secondary education, while approximately 20 percent achieve a college degree. By cohort, private school enrollment has been around 8 percent, but it began increasing with the 1950s birth cohort and increased to about 14 percent for the cohort of the 1970s. Students who attend government schools complete 10.8 years of schooling on average, while those who attend non-Catholic private schools complete 12.6 years. Opinion on job security has declined from approximately 73 percent feeling secure in 1989/90 to 56 percent 1996/97 and recently has increased to 66 percent secure in 2001. The opinion that trade unions have too much power has declined, from 82 percent in 1984/95 to 43 percent in 2001. International comparisons show that Australians think trade unions do a good job for the country in higher percentages (40 percent) in 1990, similar to Italy and Hungary, but such support has declined to 14 percent, in 2001, comparable to Norway and Germany. In recent decades, Australian unemployment has followed the same cycle as has Canada and Germany. Australian unemployment rates have been two to three times higher than those in Japan. They have been quite close to those in Canada, and Germany.

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Australians predominantly place the blame on smokers (81 percent) for lung cancer, big eaters (52 percent) for heart attacks, and heavy drinkers (80 percent) for liver disease. More than 60 percent of Australians think those with bad habits should pay for most of their treatment or at least half with the government paying the rest. These are but a small sample of the interesting conclusions presented in the two volumes. The volumes, incorporating as they do results from a range of studies, addressing critical questions, present a model for other social indicator report efforts to emulate. (Editor’s note: Contributions to this section should be addressed to Abbott L. Ferriss, Editor Emeritus, SINET, Department of Sociology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.) 1273 Oxford Road, NE Atlanta, GA 30306 USA E-mail: [email protected]