Social Capital Over Time and Across Generations: A Data-Driven Learning Guide

Dataset

General Social Surveys, 1972-2006 (Cumulative File)

This exercise will use the General Social Surveys, 1972-2006 (Cumulative File. The General Social Survey (GSS) is one of the longest running surveys of social, political and cultural conditions in American society. Since its inception in 1972 it has been monitoring social change and tracking trends in attitudes, behaviors and attributes of the United States adult population. A nationally representative personal interview survey of the United States adult population, it collects data on a wide range of topics: behavioral items such as group membership and participation; personal psychological evaluations including measures of well-being, misanthropy, and life satisfaction; attitudinal questions on such public issues as crime and punishment, race relations, gender roles, and spending priorities; and demographic characteristics of respondents and their parents.

The survey is currently administered biennially. The GSS contains a core of demographic and attitudinal questions, many of which have remained unchanged to facilitate time trend studies. The survey also contains topical modules about topics of special interest. The cumulative dataset merges all previous years of the GSS into a single file, with each year or survey constituting a subfile.

This exercise will use the following variables:

• Age (AGE)
• Year (YEAR)
• Voted in the 1972 election (VOTE72)
• Vote in the 2004 election (VOTE04)
• How often attend religious services (ATTEND)
• Number of memberships to groups/organizations (MEMNUM)
• How often spend a social evening with relatives (SOCREL)
• How often spend a social evening with neighbors (SOCOMMUN)
• How often spend a social evening with friends (SOCFREND)
• Most people can be trusted (TRUST)
• How often done volunteer work for a charity in the past year (VOLCHRTY)

Goal & Concept - Dataset - Application - Interpretation & Summary - Bibliography