Description:
Polls are at their best as indicators of public opinion when they allow comparisons over extended periods of time. Yet all too often changes in question working and in questionnare content make over-time comparisons impossible. This work overcomes this difficulty by bringing together for the first time a compendium of results using identically worded questions on a wide range of social, political, and economic topics of importance to the American people.
Chapter introductions summarize trends in the various areas surveyed and discuss problems of interpretation. The chapters on political behavior and attitudes present findings on party identification, political tolerance, voting, civil liberties, international affairs, and related issues. Chapters on work, the family, and sexuality cover such topics as job prestige and satisfaction, the role of women, divorce, family size, sex education, abortion, premarital and extramarital sex, homosexuality, and pornography. Other issues addressed include crime and violence, race, death and dying, life style, and general attitudes toward life. Trend analysis based on General Social Surveys conducted regularly by The National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago since 1972 is supplemented by data from 25 other sources extending as far back as the 1930s. The questions chosen are meaningful and standardized and have been asked in interviews over a significant period. Survey results are displayed in a highly readable format that facilitates comparisons over time. An appropriate choice for the library reference collection, this book is a valuable research tool and source for scholars in political science, psychology, and sociology, as well as journalists, policy makers, and other professionals concerned with public opinion.Review Quotes: "Books that claim to describe American public opinion often generalize well beyond the data (e.g., into grand malaise' theories), fail to provide comparisons over time that place findings in a meaningful context, and describe the contents of tables whose meaning is obvious. Niemi and Mueller (both University of Rochester) and Smith (National Opinion Research Center, Chicago) overcame these common problems to produce a splendid book. For each of their 15 chapters, they present a two-to-four page summary of attitudes over time in an opinion domain (e.g., role of women) and several pages of tables. For once, less' really is more' as the reader is free to pursue particular concerns among the tables and to ignore material of less personal interest. Although the tables have much rich information, the book is also worthwhile for readers who just want a quick written summary of what the American people think. The readable text does not repeat each table's findings but cogently synthesizes the information. The authors write unusually well with scholarly standards of precision. Essential for college and university libraries."-Choice