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Salustiano del Campo
Juan Manuel Camacho
EuReporting Working Paper No. 15
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Universidad Complutense
Madrid 2000
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page
1.
Introduction
5
2.
The Perspective of Social Reports
7
3.
The Main Stages of Social Reporting in Spain
8
4.
Precedents
10
4.1
The Social Indicators Movement
10
4.2.
The CCB Plan and the Development Plans
11
5.
Social Trend Reports
13
6.
Social Reports Based on Surveys
15
6.1.
The FOESSA (Fomento de Estudios Sociales y de Sociología Aplicada)
Reports
16
6.2.
Spanish Society Reports
22
7.
Social Reports Based on Secondary Data
24
8.
Survey Databases
27
8.1.
The Database of CIS (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas)
27
8.2.
The Databases of CIRES (Centro para la Investigación de la Realidad Social
Española)
28
9.
List of Social Reports (1966-2000)
30
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Social Reports have been one of the main points of reference for contemporary sociology
in Spain. Social scientists have repeatedly consulted them over the last forty years, but they
have not always successfully used them as a means of becoming aware of social reality and
providing a sociological perspective for political activity. They have been, and continue to
be, a valuable aid for an in-depth analysis of societies that firmly cling to their secrets, and
they lead to extensive observations on social factors that, without them, would be dispersed
in isolated studies. The exercise in interpretation that these reports require is a reflection of
the need for sociology to go further than what is mere data or concrete information, and to
approach a global analysis of what is happening in our society, in order to reach an
understanding of it.
Social Reports, or Global Sociological Studies, as Jesús María de Miguel1 calls them, have
been and are children of their time. Our analysis and description, then, must consider the
circumstances to which they responded and the objectives with which they were created.
They started to appear in this country during the 60’s, at the start of the modernisation
process. This was a time of profound change that had an impact on most of, if not the
entire social framework, and to isolate a specific dimension of this change was no easy
task2. The effects that economic development had on Spanish society and the multitude of
changes in the social structure of the time were the main catalysts of an interest in social
factors and powerful stimulants for sociological curiosity. This was a time of phenomena
such as accelerated housing development and redistribution of the population, significant
external and internal migratory flows, the tourist boom, changes in the structure of family
life, changes in consumer habits and customs, etc. Spanish society was a society on the
move. This situation of social transformation coincided with the arrival of a group of
sociologists equipped with solid technical know-how and methods, who established new
ways of approaching social reality.
The timeframe to be considered, then, is the 60’s. This was when Spain entered a period of
rapid social, economic and cultural transformation, although it was not until the middle of
the following decade when a political change occurred that had an enormous impact on life
in the country. Until then, social research had made significant contributions, but the
circumstances were far from ideal for an objective analysis of some parts of reality, such as
the political aspects of life in Spain, although there was no lack of attempts to approach the
subject3. The sociological research that was predominant at that time, mostly unrelated to a
university environment, also possessed elements that, in a way, disconnected it from the
critical and transforming commitment that was an essential factor in the origins of the
science. In 1967, Del Campo wrote WKH SUHVHQW SRYHUW\ VWULFNHQ VLWXDWLRQ RI 6SDQLVK
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1
DE MIGUEL, Jesus M. (1994): "La España del Cambio" in Informe Sociológico sobre la Situación Social
de España (Foessa V), Fundación Foessa, Madrid, Volume I, pages 1-144
2
DEL CAMPO, S. (1972): "El reto del cambio social en España", in La España de los años 70. Vol I: La
sociedad, Edit. Moneda y Crédito, Madrid, page 974
3
The Foessa Report, in 1970, included a chapter on "Vida política y asociativa" that, in the final edition, was
censured. Manuel Fraga Iribarne was the director of vol III of the joint work "La España de los años 70" on
"El Estado y la Política", in which he analyses the Spanish situation and the basic models that political
regimes will be adopting in the western world.
5
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Since then, we have witnessed the appearance of a new structure of power, democratic
election mechanisms, institutions that are no longer a mimetic reflection of the single party
system, democratic political methods, a new territorial State structure known as the State
of the Autonomies, and different relationship patterns and ways of observing what
surrounds us that imply promising perspectives for the future. In other words, there is now
an ideal framework for sociological research.
The Spanish transition offered us the opportunity to reconcile two worlds that had until
then been antagonists, and to successfully recover from an era that had restricted public
freedom and decelerated the social advances that had been taking place for some time in
other countries in our cultural sphere, Franco’s dictatorship did not eliminate the
opportunity for Spaniards to become fully aware of changes that were transcendental for
our life and our future in the social, political and economic areas, which had been
germinating in previous years and helped to set the basis for a scenario that was favourable
to the political changes that lay ahead.
The transformation experienced by Spain in the 60’s had a positive impact on the interest
in learning about the causes and consequences of what was happening, and particularly the
effects and impact of the widespread government activities and programmes that were in
their initial stages. The 1959 Stabilisation Plan laid the foundations for the modernisation
of the economic structure of the country and gave way to a period of economic
restructuring and revival that reached its peak with the series of Economic and Social
Development Programmes.
The sixties saw the birth of the wide range of empirical sociological studies that
contributed to scientific knowledge of Spanish reality. They were pioneers in Europe in
many ways. The particular historic period that the country was experiencing was an
unprecedented impulse for this kind of study, and, after a relative parenthesis during the
80’s, they continued to appear with renewed enthusiasm in the 90’s. For this reason, the
order in which the reports appear in the following sections is based on their common
description and different characteristics, and basically depends on their methods, content
and objectives. Finally, we have added a comment on the survey databases that have been
created in the country, which provide a vast amount of information on partial aspects of
our society.
4
6
DEL CAMPO, S.(1967): /DYRFDFLyQGHODVRFLRORJtDHVSDxROD, in Anales de Sociología, number 3, June,
page 5
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The transcendental nature of social reports lies in the fact that they aspire to provide a
global and interpretative view of social reality, broadening the limited but essential
perspectives of monographic studies on some partial or particular aspects. They are
comprehensive studies that describe, analyse and interpret the social aspects of a society at
a certain moment or for a short period of time. In Spain, their original objectives were
fundamentally practical, and in a way they revealed a number of contradictions in the
political and social framework in relation to the impact that planning, particularly
economic planning, had on our society. Social sciences, as Manual Fraga said then, KDYH
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Social reports have helped to identify the importance of the analysis of data taken from
reality with a view to establishing precise perspectives that are more than a mere
accumulation of observations and measurements and a mere description of social
phenomena. They structure statistical data to provide it with content that helps to overcome
its limitations, in order to arrive at a reasoned conclusion concerning Spanish society. They
complement the limited perspective provided by economic indicators, affording more
general interpretations. In this respect, there is no escaping the fact that the application of
the criteria on which these indicators are based to the identification of social phenomena
implies ignoring many aspects that are crucial for an understanding of social behaviour.
Attitudes, aspirations, expectations and perceptions escape the strict control applied by
economic indicators to the phenomena they try to explain, and without them, an
understanding of economically related behaviour itself would not be possible.
Although social reports are generally designed to provide a global explanation, including
the future trends of society, it is preferable to differentiate between studies that are
specifically intended to analyse these trends, increasing their perspectives and objectives.
These studies contribute to our knowledge of the direction in which societies move over
time. If Social Reports are classified as cross-sectional, trend analysis must be seen within
the framework of longitudinal studies, because they are an attempt to establish how
societies evolve based on extensive time data series and complementary analyses of future
expectations or perspectives.
The sociology practised in the 60’s and the social reports that were then published, are the
inheritance of other isolated predecessors that started research in limited sociological
fields, but which helped to set the basis for the subsequent development of social research
in Spain. From the little studied and acknowledged pioneers of the 19th Century, who
deserve a mention here, to the work initiated in the first thirty years of this century, which
the civil war, the subsequent period of isolation and the intellectual poverty of the time
relegated to obscurity. The 40’s and 50’s were certainly hardly encouraging for initiatives
of this kind, primarily associated to a university environment, or for a number of strongminded professors who designed studies based on opinion polls limited to very concrete
and partial aspects of our society.
5
FRAGA, M.;VELARDE; J.; DEL CAMPO, S.(1972): La España de los años 70, Editorial Moneda y
Crédito, Madrid. Prologue to volume I: La Sociedad, page 6.
7
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The changes that have taken place in Spain in the last forty years require a systematic
account of what had been happening before the 60’s, for a correct understanding of the
present situation. The developments to which we are going to refer are subjective, as are all
periods established for historic purposes, but it is an approach that offers sufficient points
of interest.
Amando de Miguel6, in the introduction to his work on Social Indicators, suggests a
sequence of stages in the evolution of statistical information in our country since the start
of the century. To the first two, which were the object of his research, we have added
others that complete the limited history to which he was referring in 1967.
a) For slightly longer than the first thirty years of this century, the basic source of
information on Spanish reality were the publications issued by the Instituto Nacional de
Estadística (National Statistics Institute). This Institute (INE), created in 1870 as the
Instituto Geográfico y Estadístico (Geographic and Statistical Institute) had its
precursor in the Junta de Estadística (Statistics Board), the main mission of which was
to take the Population Census of 1857. At that time, it became the official collector of
numerical information for the State. The present name of the Instituto Nacional de
Estadística dates from 1945 and its status as an independent body from 1989. Its
primary objectives were to prepare and improve demographic, economic and social
statistics and introduce others. During this period, there was a predominance of
demographic data and social accounting statistics, together with data generated by
related bodies, like the Instituto de Reformas Sociales (Social Reform Institute) created
in 1904, which helped to systematise collections of disperse data related to Spanish
society for various purposes. In this and the following period, we typically find mere
repertories and statistical yearbooks that are no more than a collection of numerical
information on different aspects of Spanish life. These data repertories were also
collected by other institutions and included statistical information of very different
sorts. The statistical information available up to then can be considered in a wide sense
as a not too systematic group of social indicators. It was different from social reporting
in that the purpose was to give content to a mere collection of quantitative data and use
them to interpret the social situation.
b) After the war and up to 1960, the Instituto Nacional de Estadística continued to play an
important role as the primary source of data, although with a significant emphasis on
economic figures, together with periodical reports issued by some financial institutions.
An outstanding example were the reports published by the Banco de Bilbao on the
territorial distribution of income and industrial economic indicators. In the INE reports
or yearbooks and those published by the different banks, not much attention was paid
to social phenomena that were not likely to be included on census forms or that had
little or no economic content. Limited technical resources coincided with little interest
in scientific knowledge of society, which in any case was supposedly provided by
information from intermediaries and loyal spokesmen of the established order.
Economic information thus became the main statistical concern of the governing class.
6
8
MIGUEL, A.; DIEZ NICOLAS, J.; MEDINA, A. (1967): Tres estudios para un sistema de indicadores
sociales, Euramérica, Madrid, p.13
c) Following the Stabilisation Plan and the series of Development Plans, several research
projects were initiated in the 1960’s. For the first time, the emphasis is on social factors
and the consequences of economic growth. These reports, which aspired to provide a
global analysis of Spanish reality, can be considered as the first Social Reports, and
they make use of the different methods and objectives that are introduced into global
study projects from then on. The thriving ambition to describe and comprehend social
reality coincides chronologically with, and is even slightly earlier than the social
indicator movement in the United States and leaves its mark on the subsequent work of
social scientists. The CCB7 Plan, the volume on the Human and Social Factors of the
Development Plan, FOESSA reports I8, II9 and III10, and the work directed by Manuel
Fraga11, Juan Velarde and Salustiano del Campo, La España de los años 70 (4
volumes), are the main points of reference for this period. The first INE12 report
appeared in 1975. Entitled "Panorámica social", it is a unitary collection of statistical
information of a social nature.
d) The 80’s was a decade characterised by a certain weariness of this kind of reports, and
the pre-eminence of monographic studies supported by the interests of their promoters
and the scientists who performed them, and global studies on society were momentarily
abandoned. On the other hand, they were not easily translated into political measures
and the priority of the time was the legal and institutional consolidation of the
democratic system and the end of the economic crisis. The study of the political
transition in Spain and its impact on the social and institutional framework came to the
forefront, and strictly social reports were relegated to the background. The 4th Foessa
Report13 appeared at the start of this decade. It centred its interest on the political
change that had taken place in Spain since 1975, and a second volume that was
published later refers to some aspects of the social change. It was joined by a report
directed by J.J. Linz14 and García de Enterría in 1984 entitled España, un presente para
el futuro, the first volume of which is an extensive analysis of Spanish social reality. In
the later 80’s this trend gradually lost impetus and different projects were initiated that
saw the light in the 90’s.
e) The 90’s saw a significant change in the development of Social Reports. The emphasis
is on the systematization of the enormous amount of existing data and the application
of new perspectives and methods to approach social phenomena in a way that leads to
an understanding and an explanation of the social universe in Spain and its future
perspectives, a step further than a mere description of the present situation based on
7
CARITAS ESPAÑOLA: Plan CCB: Plan de promoción social, asistencia social y beneficiencia de la Iglesia
española (three volumes), Euramérica, Madrid, 1965-68
8
FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (DE MIGUEL, A.; GOMEZ-REINO, M.; ORIZO, F.A.): Informe sociológico
sobre la situación social de España, Euramérica, Madrid 1966
9
FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (DE MIGUEL, A.): Informe sociológico sobre la situación social de España,
Euramérica, Madrid 1970.
10
FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (Several authors): Estudios sociológicos sobre la situación social de España 1975,
Euramérica, Madrid 1976.
11
FRAGA, M.; DEL CAMPO, S.; VELARDE, J.: La España de los años 70. Vol. I: La Sociedad; Vol. II: La
economía; Vol III: El Estado y la Política, Edit. Moneda y Crédito, Madrid 1972.
12
INE: Panorámica social, Madrid 1975.
13
FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (Several authors): Vol I: Informe sociológico sobre el cambio político en España
1975-1981; Vol II: Informe sociológico sobre el cambio social en España, Euramérica, Madrid 1981-1983.
14
LINZ, J.J.; GARCIA DE ENTERRIA, E. (directors) : España: un presente para el futuro. Vol I: La
sociedad; Vol II: Las instituciones, Instituto de Estudios Económicos, Madrid 1984.
9
what had happened in previous years. The historic perspective of the social and
political change in Spain, which had dominated social reports until the mid-80’s, was
put aside. The importance of progressive ideas, values linked to postmodernity and
democracy, and the appearance of research groups interested in trends rather than in
cross-sectional studies, increased considerably. This was also reinforced by the
appearance of institutions like the Consejo Económico y Social15 (Economic and Social
Council), which produced unitary reports on Spanish society, handling a large volume
of data and information of different kinds. The Foessa tradition ended at this time with
the appearance of the 4th Sociological Report on the social situation in Spain under the
direction of Miguel Juárez16, which returned to the spirit of previous Reports. The
Instituto Nacional de Estadística issued two different reports on social statistics. The
Indicadores Sociales17 series and the continuation of the publication Panorámica social
de España18 with other criteria, conceived with a less theoretical or systematic
approach than the social indicators, and including both quantitative and qualitative
data. There are many examples of Social Reports from this period, and we will refer to
them in more detail in the following pages.
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The desire to learn about society is no new thing. What is a recent development is the
application of strict methods that provide for a way to verify information, the results of
which are also intended to be more than a purely intellectual or academic exercise on our
milieu. At this point in time, Spain made the most of the social indicators movement that
saw the light in the United States and opened the way to new concepts in the measurement
of social phenomena.
The social indicators movement was widely followed by Spanish social scientists. This
was the result of the isolation of our sociology from the main theoretical currents and
explanatory models related to social reality that until them had been adopted and cultivated
(particularly, functionalism and Marxism). This movement also coincided with the
indicative planning of Development Plans and the interest in transferring some economical
tools (indicators) to the social sphere. The support for this movement, after it boomed in
the United States, had a transcendental impact among social scientists and planners. The SI
movement was part of an American governmental current that required tools WRLQFUHDVH
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15
CONSEJO ECONÓMICO Y SOCIAL (1994): España 1993. Economía, trabajo y sociedad. Memoria sobre
la situación socioeconómica y laboral, Madrid.
16
FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (JUAREZ, M. (Dir.)) (1994): V Informe sociológico sobre la situación social de
España. Sociedad para todos en el año 2.000, Madrid
17
INE (1991): Indicadores Sociales Madrid.
18
INE: Panorámica social de España, Madrid 1994.
19
Message from President Johnson to Congress on health and education. Quoted by R.A. Bauer.
10
It was clear that there was a need for tools to evaluate the impact on society of the policies
that governments were developing. Thus, social indicators were seen as useful instruments
for the administration of society as a whole20 and to periodically evaluate the impact of
government activities. Their objective is to obtain information on society in general, in
order to determine the direction to be taken and provide the basis for planning and
developing future policies. In other words, the idea was to have a social information
system that would be useful for making political decisions.
Bauer’s book21 is considered the main exponent of this movement, but nevertheless, the
year it was published, the first Social Report that deserves the name was issued in Spain,
under the patronage of the Foessa Foundation22 and directed by Amando de Miguel,
Manuel Gómez Reino and Francisco Andrés Orizo, with a large group of sociologists who
thus made an important contribution to the renovation of Spanish sociology. This first
report based on social indicators aspired to be a counterpoint to the use and abuse of
economic indicators.
The social indicators movement’s initial intention to add value to the objective
measurement of social phenomena in order to provide a global description of societies and
be able to compare them, was soon overcome by the enormous technical and
methodological difficulties involved. In Spain, this movement had a significant impact, but
we believe that what was considered was not a system of macrosocial indicators like that
of the United States, but a system with a more limited scope that would take partial aspects
of social reality into account.
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A few years earlier, at the end of 1961, the CCB (Comunidad Cristiana de Bienes Christian Community of Interests) Plan started an ambitious project to diagnose social
needs in Spain. The Catholic Church, through Caritas Española, performed an extensive
study on social problems, with a view to making the best use of their limited social action
resources and to defining the Social Promotion, Social Aid and Charity Programme for the
Church. Some authors identify it as the first Spanish Social Report, which tries to discover
the most important problems in Spanish society and to help to solve them over a five-year
period. As Demetrio Casado23 says, the CCB Plan moved within the narrow margin that
the Franco regime allowed for the analysis of social issues, and DGRSWV IRXU FRQVHTXHQW
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20
CASAS AZNAR, F. (1989): Técnicas de investigación social: los indicadores sociales y psicosociales,
PPU, Barcelona
21
BAUER, R.A. (Ed) (1966); Social Indicators, The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge.
22
Op. Cit.
23
CASADO, Demetrio (1999 ): (O3ODQ&&%MDOyQGHODLQYHVWLJDFLyQHPStULFDHVSDxRODHQSUREOHPDV
VRFLDOHV, en Revista del Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, nº 20, pag.
11
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In accordance with these principles, Cáritas Española decided to carry out a broad study in
response to the need to allocate resources where they are most needed and to govern the
social action for which it is responsible. To summarise, the results that the Plan is designed
for consist of:
•
Obtaining precise and objective knowledge of existing social and individual needs in
Spain.
A knowledge of the possible resources to cover those needs.
•
The research that Caritas Española so diligently carried out covered Spanish society as a
whole and was the first empirical research on social problems in Spain after the Spanish
civil war. The results started to appear in 196524, in three volumes, the last of which was
published in 1968.
The CCB Plan includes the analysis of a series of basic necessities (food, health, education,
housing, employment and social community) in 360 homogeneous social areas, with the
idea of developing local plans for the more needy areas, in which the social activities
carried out by the Church are able to concentrate on the most urgent problems.
The systematic study of social reality becomes, then, an essential requirement for the
rational and effective planning that the Church in Spain makes use of with no false
charitable modesty. Sociology is not an academic luxury, but a response to the need of
modern societies and institutions to have instruments capable of helping planners to predict
the impact of their actions.
The economic development that was the objective of the different Programmes established
by the Spanish Government at the time has its correlation in the social changes that were
taking place and that were favoured by the Plans. Economic information was fundamental
for the modernisation of the country (just as it has been a predominant factor in many
recent periods of history and is high up on the list of government priorities), and to foster
the development that was to bring us closer to our neighbouring countries, but it was soon
seen that although it permitted planning the use of limited components, the impact on the
human groups to which they were to be applied had to be taken into account. Social
aspects began to come to the forefront when planners were forced to consider the impact of
their decisions on people’s attitudes, perceptions and behaviour. It is not only planning that
makes societies move forward. They have their own dynamics that are not automatically
linked to pure economic reasoning. The volume on the Human and Social Factors of the
Development Plan, published in 1963, emphasises this impact and adds to the force given
at the time to the study of Spanish society. The social consequences of development thus
became essential for different government policies.
In the introduction to the 1st Foessa Report25, this objective becomes evident when it
mentions that, together with the CCB Plan and the volume on the Human and Social
24
25
Op. Cit.
Op. Cit.
12
Factors of the Development Plan, it contributed to the consolidation of a YHU\ XVHIXO
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Social trend reports are a particular sub-type of social reports that, in view of their
singularity and popularity, we intend to analyse separately. They are based on a different
basic idea and analyse social reality using the trend concept as their starting point.
Qualitative and quantitative techniques, surveys, secondary analyses of primary data and
the use of secondary sources of information have been used to obtain an overview of the
trends in Spanish society.
The first one carried out is part of a wide ranging international project concerned with the
study of social change in advanced industrial societies, and makes use of a single outline
for the study of trends. Spain takes part in this project together with Germany, France,
Greece, the United States, Quebec, Italy, Russia and Bulgaria, and the group is known as
the International Group for the Comparative Charting of Social Change (CCSC).
The general purposes of this group, as specified by Theodore Caplow26, are as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
To prepare a comprehensive and quantitatively based description of recent social trends
in advanced industrial societies.
To identify similarities and differences in these societies related to current social
trends.
To subject these similarities and differences to comparative analyses.
To develop a new social change model based on this data.
To establish landmarks to follow future social changes.
The project module is the national trend profile or report, covering 78 sectors that are
common to all the countries taking part. Each national report presents and interprets trends
related to these sectors in accordance with a common system: a summary, an explanatory
text, a set of statistical tables and graphs and a basic bibliography.
The quality of data and sources is a basic criteria for trend analysis. Ideally, as Caplow
says, WREHXVHGLQDUHSRUWDVHULHVVKRXOGFRQVLVWRIHPSLULFDOPHDVXUHPHQWVUHIHUWRDQ
HQWLUH VRFLHW\ RU D UHSUHVHQWDWLYH VDPSOH RI WKDW VRFLHW\ FRYHU D SHULRG RI DW OHDVW WHQ
\HDUV LQFOXGH GDWD UHFRUGHG DW WKUHH RU PRUH PRPHQWV LQ WLPH EH VXVFHSWLEOH WR
LQGHSHQGHQWYHULILFDWLRQDQGUHSOLFDEOHLQWKHVDPHVRFLHW\DQGLQRWKHUV
26
CAPLOW, T. (1993): Preface to DEL CAMPO, S.(dir): Tendencias sociales en España, 1960-1990,
Fundación BBV, Bilbao, pag. 17
27
Ibid, pag. 17
13
In the Spanish report prepared under the direction of Salustiano del Campo28, the
requirements for this project in all the countries gave rise to a thorough collection of data
and indicators and their prior evaluation to be included as research material. The Spanish
report offers basic material for the analysis and comprehension of recent social change in
our country, but has international comparative objectives. Without them, it would be
difficult to determine LI WKH WUHQGV REVHUYHG LQ D FRQFUHWH QDWLRQDO VRFLHW\ DUH ORFDO
DFFLGHQWV RU FKDUDFWHULVWLF RI D EURDGHU V\VWHP"29 with a view to the construction of an
explanatory model of social change in the last third of the century.
The 78 trends analysed in the Spanish trend report were grouped into 17 sectors that
correspond to the systematization established for the original project. In this context, a
trend has been used as the minimum unit for the interpretation of social change, understood
as the direction taken by a statistical series in the medium term once the short-term
variations are neutralised. In other words, Del Campo suggests that trend analysis increases
the possibilities of other approaches and at the same time is not subject to their limitations.
7KHPHDVXUHPHQWDQGHYROXWLRQRIDFKLHYHPHQWVLQUHDFKLQJREMHFWLYHVRUVRFLDOFRQFHUQV
DQG RI WKH GHWHFWLRQ RI GHILFLHQFLHV LV ZKDW FKDUDFWHULVHV WKH VRFLDO UHSRUWV WKDW
SUROLIHUDWHG LQ WKH VL[WLHV DQG FRQWLQXH WRGD\ ZKHUHDV DFFRXQWLQJ FDVKIORZV DQG WKH
EDODQFHEHWZHHQLQSXWVDQGRXWSXWVEHORQJWRWKHILHOGRIDFFRXQWLQJV\VWHPVDQGEDODQFH
VKHHWVDQGLQWHUSUHWDWLRQLVHYHQWXDOO\WKHYHU\UDLVRQG¶rWUHRIWUHQGDQDO\VLVZKLFKLV
ERWKDJOREDODQGKHXULVWLFPHWKRG
Since 1995, following in the wake of trends but with a prospective and anticipatory nature,
the Social Trends Study Group3132 associated with Universidad Nacional de Educación a
Distancia (UNED) (Spanish Open University) has been carrying out research with
quantitative (opinion polls) and qualitative (Delphi studies, discussion groups and others)
techniques, to discover the SHUFHSWLRQV WKDW DYHUDJH FLWL]HQV KDYH RI WKH PDLQ VRFLDO
FKDQJHV DQG LQQRYDWLRQV WKDW DUH QRZ RFFXUULQJ DV D FRQVHTXHQFH RI WKH WHFKQRORJLFDO
UHYROXWLRQDQGRWKHUUHFXUULQJVRFLDOSURFHVVHV
The general survey on social trends has been carried out every year since 1995 with a
representative sample of the Spanish population over 18 years of age. Since then, there
have been five surveys that allow us ³QRW RQO\ WR EH DZDUH RI SXEOLF RSLQLRQ¶V
DSSUHFLDWLRQRIVHYHUDOUHOHYDQWWUHQGVEXWDOVRWRIROORZWKHHYROXWLRQRIWKRVHWUHQGVLQ
WKHSXEOLFSHUFHSWLRQ
These general surveys are complemented by other monographic polls and Delphi studies
applied to groups of Spanish experts on particular trends in their respective areas, which
are completed with secondary sources of information. This work leads to specific forecasts,
with an estimate of the precision of the predictions, years in which they will occur and the
28
DEL CAMPO, S.(dir) (1993): Tendencias sociales en España, 1960-1990, Fundación BBV, Bilbao.
CAPLOW, T. (1993), Op.Cit, page 18
30
Op. Cit., page 25
31
TEZANOS, J.F.; MONTERO, J.M.; DÍAZ, J.A. (eds.) (1997): Tendencias de futuro en la sociedad
española. Primer Foro sobre Tendencias Sociales, Edit. Sistema, Madrid, 1997.
32
TEZANOS, J.F (2000): Escenarios del nuevo siglo. Cuarto Foro sobre Tendencias Sociales, Edit. Sistema,
Madrid
33
GETS, report dated 2/6/2000
34
Ibid
29
14
evaluation of eventual impacts and social and political consequences, establishing future
scenarios for several concrete fields.
Both research groups start with different premises when it comes to analysing the
evolutionary trends of Spanish society. If the work of Del Campo and his collaborators
starts from the analysis of time series, using secondary sources of information to estimate
the foreseeable evolution of our society in each field analysed, the GETS, co-ordinated by
Professor José Felix Tezanos, considers how the Spanish population perceives its future
evolution and what the experts predict, establishing future scenarios. (Table 1)
7DEOH
*URXSIRU&RPSDUDWLYH6RFLDO&KDUWLQJ
0.- Context
1.- Age groups
2.- Micro-social relations
3.- Women
4.- Employment market
5.- Work and management
6.- Social stratification
7.- Social relations
8.- State and service institutions
9.- Mobilising institutions
10.- Institutions of the social forces
11.- Ideology
12.- Domestic resources
13.- Life styles
14.- Leisure
15.- General education
16.- Marginalisation
17.- Attitudes and values
6RFLDO7UHQGV6WXG\*URXS
*HQHUDOVXUYH\
.- Employment and economic trends
.- Family and relationship trends
.- Social and political trends
.- Quality of life trends
'HOSKLVWXGLHV
.- Scientific and technological trends
.- Stratification and social inequality trends
.- Trends in social exclusion
.- Tends in automation and robotics
.- Occupational trends
.- The house of the future
.- Employment market trends
6RFLDO5HSRUWV%DVHGRQ6XUYH\V
The social indicators movement emphasised the information systems that were essential
for collecting data to construct comprehensive indicators of social reality. It defends
sample studies as the main source for the necessary social indicators, although it does not
reject other more conventional sources. The survey, then, becomes a fundamental
instrument for sociological research, supported by new computer tools and statistical data
analysis. Among the Social Reports based on surveys we find the Foessa Reports, to which
we will repeatedly refer. The fifth and last report published35 dates from 1994.
35
Op. Cit.
15
In 1992, the director of the first two reports, Amando de Miguel36, started a series of
studies with a methodological profile that is reminiscent of the first Foessa work, and has
published the results of his research every year in five broad range reports.
Another study, more limited in scope but which provides an interesting profile of Spanish
society based on the results of a survey was directed by Salustiano del Campo37 in 1993 for
the Fundación Independiente. It gathers the opinions of the Spanish population on very
varied issues with the idea of providing a view of Spain at a specific moment in time.
These three groups of reports have formed the backbone of Social Reports based on
surveys in Spain, and are completed with others that have used other methods and sources
of information, which we analyse later.
7KH)2(66$)RPHQWRGH(VWXGLRV6RFLDOHV\GH6RFLRORJtD$SOLFDGD5HSRUWV
In 1965, the Foessa Foundation was created to contribute to the scientific analysis of
Spanish society and develop a system of indicators to REVHUYH DQDO\VH DQG HYDOXDWH
VRFLDO IDFWV DQG SKHQRPHQD DQG WKHLU HYROXWLRQ ZLWK REMHFWLYH DQG XQLIRUP FULWHULD DQG
IRU WKLV V\VWHP RI VRFLDO LQGLFDWRUV WR EH ODWHU DSSOLFDEOH WR VRFLDO UHVHDUFK LQ 6SDLQ WR
PRQLWRU E\ PHDQV RI IXUWKHU UHVHDUFK WKH HYROXWLRQ RI WKH VLWXDWLRQ WKXV OHDGLQJ WR D
EHWWHUNQRZOHGJHRIVRFLDOUHDOLW\LQRXUFRXQWU\
A year later the first report appeared. It was directed by Amando de Miguel39 at the head of
a select group of sociologists, and analysed the data provided in a wide range survey plus
information from different secondary sources. The initial idea was to include all the
pertinent information in one vast report, emphasising situations that were a reflection of the
most serious problems of social inequality or economic and cultural poverty in Spain.
The Foessa Reports intended to carry out periodical studies on the social situation in Spain,
fundamentally based on primary information provided by surveys and also using statistics
that had already been published. They responded to the pressing need to have first hand
information to orient the direction in which society was moving and to become aware of
the consequences of development. We must not forget that, as some of its authors
acknowledge, the idea was to define a social situation with the immediate, practical
objective of making the right decisions to relieve some of its tensions or deficiencies40.
Foessa also acknowledges that to do this, it is necessary to establish ³SRLQWVRIUHIHUHQFH
WKDWOLNHWKHLQGLFDWRUVWKDWHFRQRPLFVFLHQFHXVHVLQLWVRZQILHOGDOORZXVWRHVWDEOLVK
REMHFWLYH FULWHULD IRU WKH REVHUYDWLRQ DQDO\VLV DQG HYDOXDWLRQ RI VRFLDO IDFWV DQG
SKHQRPHQD VR WKDW WKH\ OHDG WR VFLHQWLILFNQRZOHGJHZLWKDVKLJKDOHYHORI FHUWDLQW\ DV
SRVVLEOH´
36
DE MIGUEL, A.: La sociedad española 1992-93, Alianza Editorial-UCM, Madrid, 1992.
DEL CAMPO, S. (1993): Estado actual y perspectivas de la sociedad española, Fundación Independiente,
Madrid.
38
MIGUEL, A.; DIEZ NICOLAS, J.; MEDINA, A. (1967): Op. Cit. Page 7
39
Op. Cit.
40
DE MIGUEL, Jesús (1994). Op. Cit.
41
Ibid.
37
16
The first two reports, 1966 and 1970, had the unitary character that gave them the same
direction and content structure, The work carried out by Amando de Miguel, who won the
call for projects launched by Foessa to establish a system of social indicators, marks the
references of these two initial studies.
Foessa, and the authors of the first two reports, started work convinced that the social
indicators model that they proposed would be used for subsequent studies. This would be a
way of monitoring Spanish social reality to be able to observe and describe its evolution. In
a way, the third report, in 1975, breaks off from this model and is fragmented into subjects
based on a common survey. Directed by Juan Díez Nicolas and Luis González Seara, it
contains nine different studies by different authors. The change that this approach
represented and its complexity is described by Enrique Martín López42 in the final chapter,
(DFK FKDSWHUZDVDOORFDWHGWRDGLIIHUHQWUHVHDUFKWHDP ZLWK WKH IUHHGRP WR FKRVH WKH
DSSURDFK DQG WKH WUHDWPHQW In this third report, the previous editions changed into a
group of studies with different approaches and techniques. To overcome the risk of a lack
of unity and conceptual integration, the studies are based on a single primary source, with a
unified questionnaire and a single team responsible for data collection43. This main source
is completed with the secondary sources, approach and presentation that each research
team saw fit.
The rupture with the previous reports even affects the name, confirming the variety of
approaches that are present in the third report. If the earlier and subsequent editions
identify their unitary perspective with the generic title of “Sociological report.....”, the
disparity of approaches on this occasion is revealed in the name “Sociological studies.....”.
It was inevitable that the emphasis of the fourth report in 1983 would be on the political
change that Spain had experienced since 1975, and the main body of the study was based
on a complex survey programme initiated in 1976. These surveys analysed the transition to
democracy and the crystallisation of the political party system up to 1980. There was a poll
on the 1976 referendum on political reform, a poll after the referendum in 1977, a political
poll in 1978, a poll after the 1979 elections and an analysis of the trade union elections of
197844. Possibly as a concession to the previous Foessa reports, five independent studies
on aspects such as stratification and inequality, education, family, religion and health
appear in the second volume on social change in Spain.
The 5th Foessa Report on the social situation in Spain, published in 1994, returns to the
original structure of the second report, which was adapted to the new challenges facing
Spanish society. With the sub-heading "Society for all in the year 2000", it has the unitary
approach based on a general survey with the shared responsibility of different authors who
analyse different segments of our society. It includes two new chapters related to
information technologies and leisure and lifestyles.
In the words of Juan J. Linz, this series of reports has provided a photograph and an x-ray
of many aspects of Spanish society, DIIRUGLQJ D FRPSOH[ DQG YHU\ ULFK YLHZ RI
MARTIN LOPEZ, E. (1976): $VSHFWRVVRFLDOHV\SROtWLFRVGHOGHVDUUROORHFRQyPLFRHVSDxRO, in
FUNDACIÓN FOESSA: Estudios sociológicos sobre la situacións ocial de España, 1975, Eurámérica,
Madrid, page 1377
43
FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (1976): Op. Cit, page XVI
44
DE MIGUEL, Jesús M. (1994), Op. Cit. Page 129
42
17
LQIRUPDWLRQLQDOOLWVGLPHQVLRQV,WLVQRWH[DJJHUDWHGWRVD\WKDWWKHVXPRIWKHYROXPHV
VSRQVRUHG E\ WKH )RHVVD )RXQGDWLRQ UHSUHVHQWV D PRQXPHQWDO DFKLHYHPHQW WKDW LV
XQSDUDOOHOHGLQRWKHU(XURSHDQFRXQWULHV
The unitary and supposedly global surveys on which the Foessa reports were based, have
adapted their content to the network of the most significant or relevant phenomena of the
historic moment in which they were conducted. The social problems and needs in our
country in the periods to which they refer have been adequately portrayed. If we compare
the content of the first Foessa report with the last to be published, their similarities and
differences are both quite surprising. Doubtless the functional objectives of the studies are
different, but after all, the directors and authors have followed the tradition of the first
reports, with the attention on the existing social structure and the social problems at each
moment in time, adjusting content and approaches but remaining faithful to the original
idea.
A detailed analysis of the content of the Reports and the circumstances to which they had
responded since 1966 appeared in the first chapter of the last Foessa report published. This
is Jesús Mª de Miguel’s46 own particular tribute to the pioneers who helped to set the
foundations for Spanish empirical sociology. Table 2 offers the basic layout of the different
reports, plus the study directed by Amando de Miguel to establish a System of Social
Indicators. Although this layout is smaller or larger depending on the most significant
phenomena at the time the reports were written, and on the sectors in which they were
interested, there is a common part that has survived over the years. Subsequent Foessa
reports have maintained a similar structure to tackle the great problems of Spanish society.
The structural aspects of Spanish society are part of a global analysis that is derived from
the study of sectorial aspects, in accordance with the system of social indicators to which
we have previously referred. The basic layout of all the Foessa reports has been a structural
study based on a combination of demographic and economic factors with an analysis of
stratification and social mobility, including the political and religious systems wherever
possible. This central analysis is completed with a sectorial study of problems and needs.
The first part of the reports is dedicated to the most elementary structural aspect of a
society, its population. This is not included in the fourth report which, has we have seen, is
particularly interested in the political changes in Spain. An analysis of the social and
economic structure, stratification, mobility, inequality, marginalisation and poverty in
Spanish society, is present in all the Foessa reports, from different viewpoints. In the third
report, in 1965, stratification and class structure is exceptionally treated from a Marxist
perspective.
Economic development gave rise to many different problems due to the lack of
synchronisation in the development of all the different sectors in the country, which in
some cases had a negative impact on existing regional differences that had been targeted
for elimination. These regional differences were considered in the first Foessa report in the
study on Spanish socio-economic structure and have remained in the following reports in a
cross-sectional manner.
45
FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (1994): V Informe Sociológico sobre la Situación Social de España, Madrid, page
XXVIII
46
DE MIGUEL, J.M. (1994), Op. Cit.
18
In the first Foessa there is a notable absence of politics and religion, which are included in
following reports with different results. Political and associative life was considered in the
second study, but was prevented from being published as part of the complete Report,
thwarting somewhat the idea of linking the problems to the structure47.
Health and education are two sectorial aspects of Spanish society that the Foessa reports
paid special attention to from the beginning. Work, employment and unemployment have
been present in all the reports, except the fourth, which used them in the analysis of
stratification and social inequality. The feeding and nutrition of the Spanish population was
a permanent concern of the authors of the first reports, which centred their attention on the
nutritional level, food potential and eating habits in Spain. Economic development and
living conditions changed considerably during the 70’s and this concern is no longer
evident after 1975. The family structure and the evolution of family models appear in the
second Foessa and continue throughout the rest of the series. Housing and town planning
are the subject of research in the first, second and fifth.
Another aspect that has been recurrently considered, and is a specific concern of the early
reports, are attitudes and values. Aspects such as consumption, leisure, social services,
equipment and the use of time have also been considered in some of the reports, but have
not become a permanent addition to the basic Foessa layout. The last report has a specific
section on information technologies, which is fundamental to understand the changes that
are taking place in our society, in relation to the new information era and its impact on
every aspect of our lives.
47
DE MIGUEL, J.M. (1994, Op. Cit., pag. 8
19
7DEOH
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)RHVVD
Social change
Regional differences
Population
Economic structure
Social mobility
Poverty
Values
Food
Health
Education
Work
Housing
6\VWHPRI6RFLDO
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Population structure and
movements
Socio-economic structure
Population
Population
Socio-economic structure
Stratification and classes
Stratification and social
mobility
Marginalised sectors and
situations of poverty
Attitudes and values
Political and associative
life
The family
Food
Health
Education
Work and income
distribution
Town planning and
housing
Social equipment
)RHVVD
Stratification and social
inequality
)RHVVD
Leisure and life styles
Population, structure
and social inequality
Income policies
Stratification and mobility Stratification and mobility
Poverty and
marginalisation
Religious life
Psychosociology
Political and associative
life
Family
Food
Health
Education and science
Work
Housing
Equipment
Religious situation
Religion
Religion
Politics
Political change
The political system
Family
Family
Family
Health and food
Health, social security and
social services
Education
Health and health care
Education
Work, consumption and
leisure
Education
Employment and
unemployment
Housing
Social action and
Social Services
Information
technologies
21
6SDQLVK6RFLHW\5HSRUWV
In 1992 and with the sponsorship of the Complutense Foundation, Amando de Miguel
started a series of studies on Spanish society with a view to identifying the basic elements
of its social structure and daily life. The author himself acknowledges that this project is
indebted to the two Reports that he directed for the Foessa Foundation in the 60’s. The
methodology is similar, WU\LQJWRKDUPRQLVHWZRW\SHVRIGDWDDQGVRXUFHVPDWHULDOWKDW
KDVDOUHDG\EHHQSXEOLVKHGVWDWLVWLFVWKHUHVXOWVRIGLIIHUHQWVXUYH\VQHZVDQGQHZVSDSHU
DUWLFOHV ZLWK WKH SULPDU\ LQIRUPDWLRQ SURYLGHG E\ D ODUJH VXUYH\ FRQGXFWHG IRU WKLV
SXUSRVH48.
The survey he designed is based on three population groups or basic strata of the adult
population, following the same sampling design as the first two Foessa studies: housewives
between 30 and 64 years of age, active population between 30 and 64 and young people
between 18 and 29. With this method and the collaboration of a group of social scientists,
he has compiled five comprehensive reports on Spanish society, the last of which refers to
the 1996/1997 period.
The structure of these reports is reminiscent in a way of the Foessa studies. We must not
forget that Amando de Miguel was a key figure in directing and writing the 1966 and 1970
reports. However, the selection of and approach to the phenomena considered do not
respond to the same criteria. If we observe table II, the sectorial aspects included in the
different reports are very varied and only some of them centre the author’s interest on more
than one occasion.
48
DE MIGUEL, A. (1992): Op. Cit. p.15
22
7DEOH
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6SDQLVKVRFLHW\
Spain, a vital and demoralised
society
6SDQLVKVRFLHW\
Population and health
Welfare, food and life styles
Daily life
Home, family and marriage
Values and beliefs
Population and health
Welfare, food and lifestyles
6SDQLVKVRFLHW\
Spain’s position in the world
6SDQLVKVRFLHW\
Economy
Demography
Economic pessimism
Health and food
Tastes and pleasures
Family and social mobility
Moral position concerning
religion
Social problems
(marginalisation, violence and
drugs)
Education and work
Political culture
Students at the Universidad
Complutense
6SDQLVKVRFLHW\
The two keys to Spanish reality
The elderly
Social stratification
Feelings and values
Permissivity and expressivity
Civic culture
Religion
Old age
Education
Political culture
Political culture and opinion
Electoral preferences
The social structure of the
Spanish regions
Language and nationalism
The media
The media
Spain and international politics
Military service and the army
23
6RFLDO5HSRUWV%DVHGRQ6HFRQGDU\'DWD
Unitary surveys have helped to provide social reports with a primary source of data that
conditions their structure and content to a considerable extent. The different authors’
contributions primarily stem from the data and information provided by that source, to
which they apply their own perspective and personal interpretation, completing their work
with data from other sources and adopting an integrating position that allows them to
verify what is shown by the survey.
The exclusive use of secondary sources, either the secondary analysis of primary sources
or the use of data and information already studied for the same or a similar purpose, is
quite a different question. Nowadays in Spain we have much more primary statistical
information than ever before, collected by independent social researchers or official
bodies, and we also have collections of highly valuable statistical data and information
made by public and private organisations. As Salustiano del Campo says, PDFURVXUYH\V
ZKLFK ZHUH VR SRSXODU LQ WKH VL[WLHV DQG VHYHQWLHV DUH QR ORQJHU HVVHQWLDO 7KHUH DUH
PRQRJUDSKVVSHFLDOVXUYH\VFROOHFWLRQVDQGGDWDEDVHVDYDLODEOHIRUVWXGHQWVRI6SDQLVK
VRFLHW\WKDWDUHDWWLPHVQRWHYHQWREHIRXQGLQRXUQHLJKERXULQJFRXQWULHV
The flexibility that authors obtain from the existing information gives general reports a
richness that is lost in the inevitably limited questionnaires used by reports based on
surveys. General reports pay attention to aspects of reality that can not be handled in
survey-based studies, and are better adapted to the most significant social phenomena of
the time.
Numerous reports have used this approach. Each of them develops its own perspective to
obtain knowledge on the social situation of the country, thus enriching the approach to
Spanish social reality from different points of view, and often providing complementary,
and occasionally coincident, overviews, depending of which aspects have received most
attention.
The 60’s saw the deployment of social reports, and the 70’s witnessed their consolidation.
The first large study of the decade based on secondary sources of information was
performed under the planning umbrella of the final years of the dictatorship. La España de
los años 7050 represented a gigantic effort to collect the data, statistics and reports
previously generated, into a broad analysis of Spanish society made at the beginning of the
decade. Directed by Manuel Fraga, Juan Velarde and Salustiano del Campo, it
systematised all the information available at that time in an attempt at sociological
comprehension applied to different sectors in the life of our country. This work was
published in the middle of a process of social change, which had begun some years earlier
and which preceded the political changes that were to occur a few years later, and its
results are highly significant for an understanding of present Spanish society. The report
does not use the same formula as the first FOESSA studies, because it commissioned the
most important monographic studies on each sphere from different specialists, and was so
successful that FOESSA itself would return to this approach in 1975. Vol I was concerned
49
DEL CAMPO, S.(dir) (1993): Tendencias sociales en España, 1960-1990, Fundación BBV, Bilbao, page
23.
50
Op. Cit.
24
with Society, and directed by Salustiano del Campo. Vol II, under the direction of Juan
Velarde, was a look at the economy, and Vol III, in two tomes, examined the
administration and politics under the editorship of Manuel Fraga.
The work was carried out by an excellent group of highly qualified collaborators51, who
researched new sectors of interest and others that had already been the subject of previous
Reports. Among the first, we should mention an analysis of rural society, the cultural areas
of Spain, the mass media and the creation of public opinion. This last issue would not be
included in a report again until much later. It also paid special attention to deviant
behaviour in Spain. For the first time, this section considered the phenomenon of drug
consumption as a fatalist form of conduct. In a way, it predicted the importance of this
consumption in the 80’s in what was known as the heroin epidemic. It also covered, with a
different perspective and in separate sections, an analysis of the economic élite, the
working class and occupational relations, together with the town planning process in Spain.
Sociological reflections on Spanish society as a whole in the context of this type of report
would not be appearing again until the 80’s. The studies directed by Juan José Linz52 in
1984 and Salvador Giner53 in 1989, follow the pattern of Vol I of La España de los años
70. In the 90’s, others use similar approaches, such as the report directed by Alonso
Zaldivar and Manuel Castells54 in 1992 and the two-volume report edited by José Vidal
Beneyto55 in 1991.
The volume directed by Salvador Giner on society and politics in Spain, was part of a
collection on Spain in which subsequent texts were concerned with economic, scientific,
territorial, cultural and other considerations. According to Giner himself, the studies
published in this volume were written as substantial and independent studies on many
aspects of Spanish social reality, ,KDYHWULHGWRJDWKHUDEXQFKRIFULWLFDOV\QWKHVHVRIRXU
SUHVHQWUHDOLW\DQGWRSURMHFWWKHPLQWRWKHIRUHVHHDEOHIXWXUHVRWKDWWKHUHDGHULVDEOHWR
JHW DQ LGHD RI WKH SHUVSHFWLYHV DQG SUREOHPV WKDW IDFH WKH 6SDQLVK SRSXODWLRQ RQ WKH
WKUHVKROGRIWKHWKLUGPLOOHQQLXP56
Professor Giner starts his study with a summary entitled "España en la encrucijada", which
offers an overview of the contributions of the partial studies that make up the volume. He
sees the work as DJHQHUDOYLHZRIRXUUHFHQWDQGSUHVHQWHYROXWLRQ>@WKHQDWXUHDQG
WUHQGVRI6SDQLVKVRFLHW\LQLWVSUREOHPDWLFHQWLUHW\
It includes contributions from a numerous group of authors, including some that had
previously been associated to similar joint efforts. The subjects that attract their interest are
very similar to those tackled in the previous Reports, with the exception of the work by
51
The authors responsible for the different chapters were Luis González Seara, Juan Diez Nicolas, Carlos
Moya, Carmelo Lisón Tolosana, José Ramón Torregrosa, Jose A. Garmendía, Roberto Sancho, Juan José
Caballero, Manuel Navarro, Santiago Gubern and Juan del Pino
52
LINZ, J.J. (1984) : España: un presente para el futuro. Vol I: La sociedad, Instituto de Estudios
Económicos, Madrid
53
GINER, S.(Dir.) (1990): España: sociedad y política Espasa-Calpe, Madrid
54
ALONSO ZALDIVAR, C.A.; CASTELLS, M. (1992): España fin de siglo, Alianza Editorial, Madrid.
55
VIDAL-BENEYTO, J. (Ed.) (1991): España a debate. Vol I: La política. Vol II: La sociedad Tecnos,
Madrid.
Op. Cit., page 12
57
Ibid
56
25
Fernando Reinares on terrorism and by Domingo Comas on drugs and their evolution in
Spanish society.
José Vidal-Beneyto undertook to edit a similar project which, in two volumes with
different co-ordinators and under the common title of España a debate58, is a consideration
of Spanish politics and society at the start of the 90’s. The editor himself describes the way
the work is approached in the introductory text, when he says that59 XQOLNHRWKHUVLPLODU
SURMHFWVWKHDQDO\VLV RI 6SDQLVK UHDOLW\E\DVHULHVRIH[SHUWVIURPGLIIHUHQWVSKHUHVLQ
WKLV FDVH WKHUH KDV QRW EHHQ D SULRU FRQVHQVXV RQ REMHFWLYHV DQG PRGDOLWLHV WR HVWDEOLVK
SUHGRPLQDQWWHQGHQFLHVDQGDFRPPRQIUDPHZRUNIRUWKHFRQWULEXWLRQV1HLWKHUKDVWKHLU
EHHQDMRLQWVWXG\DSRVWHULRULWRHYDOXDWHWKHUHVXOWVDQGFRUUHFWDQ\SDWHQWDQGGLVWXUELQJ
GHYLDWLRQV
The first of the volumes deals with politics and covers a good number of totally up-to-date
issues. The second is concerned with the social situation, and provides a detailed analysis
of several aspects of Spanish social reality. In the words of the editor, the texts included in
this work were intended to be60, ³DFRQWULEXWLRQWRWKHGHEDWHRQ6SDQLVKUHDOLW\EDODQFH
DQGIXWXUHSURVSHFWVWKDWWKH362(¶V3URJUDPPHLQYLWHGDOOWKHSURJUHVVLYHVHFWRUV
RI RXU VRFLHW\ WR MRLQ´. It is, then, indebted to the party, in as much as it is a
complementary analysis that forms part of the socialist project, even though many of the
authors show no trace of a party position. In this respect, Vidal-Beneyto responds that the
authors61 ³DUH D JURXS RI 6SDQLVK VRFLDO VFLHQWLVWV ZHOO NQRZQ SROLWLFDO DQG VRFLDO
DQDO\VWV WRWDOO\ FRPPLWWHG LQ GLIIHUHQW ZD\V DQG RQ GLIIHUHQW OHYHOV WR SXEOLF DOWKRXJK
QRWVWULFWO\SROLWLFDOVHUYLFHWR WKH FRXQWU\7KH\KDYHQRWRQO\DFFHSWHGWKHSULQFLSOHRI
SOXUDOLW\ EXW DOVR WKH SOXUDOLVP RI WKHLU DXWKRUVKLS´ The project was financed by the
Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
1994 saw the appearance of the first annual Report on Spanish society sponsored by the
Fundación Encuentro62. Compiled by a large team of collaborators, it faces the yearly
challenge of reflecting the most significant phenomena in Spanish society based on a
common framework of interpretation. The issues it covers vary from year to year. In the
seven that have so far been published, we can find a general view of the most significant
trends and processes related to the social changes that have occurred in Spain. Each one
pays special attention to one particular subject. The latest report deals specifically with the
mobile phone phenomenon and new communication technologies.
The interpretative background that the different authors use responds to the need for a
global analysis and explanation of the main phenomena covered by the annual Report.
They are all based on a series of interpretative theses, which are applied to a description of
the most significant social phenomena in Spain, and completed with indicators and
relevant data on the issue concerned. The framework for the different sectors of Spanish
society includes growth and development, production and competitiveness, social welfare,
education and social cohesion, territory, etc.
58
Op. Cit..
Op. Cit, page XXXIX
60
Op. Cit, page XI
61
Ibid
62
FUNDACIÓN ENCUENTRO (1994): España 1993. Una interpretación de su realidad social, Madrid.
59
26
They each develop several specific aspects that are updated yearly depending on the
situation. This table shows the issues covered in the first and the last of the reports
published by this Foundation.
7DEOH
)XQGDFLyQ(QFXHQWUR5HSRUWV
6WUXFWXUH
Production and
competitiveness
Social welfare
Territory
Growth and
development
6SDLQ
The Reform of labour relations
in Spain. Crisis of the Welfare
State
Health and the health care
system
The protection of infancy
6SDLQ
Territorial distribution of
political power as a means of
State integration and
democratisation
Professional training: an
occupational challenge
Citizens’ involvement in local
politics
Education and social Lower education reforms
cohesion
The challenge of
competitiveness and quality: the
building industry
Employment and training in the
building industry
Spanish university students are
changing
Citizenship and the disabled
6XUYH\'DWDEDVHV
7KH'DWDEDVHRI&,6&HQWURGH,QYHVWLJDFLRQHV6RFLROyJLFDV
The Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) is the main public institution that is
dedicated to the scientific knowledge of Spanish society. It is an independent body, under
the Ministry of the Presidency. Its present structure and name date from 1977, although its
predecessor, the Instituto de la Opinión Pública (IOP – Institute for Public Opinion), was
founded in 1963 and their surveys keept since them. Since it was created, the CIS has been
a privileged witness of the great transformations experienced by Spain and has contributed,
by conducting over 1,200 public opinion polls, to a better knowledge of social and political
reality in this last quarter of a century. The CIS collection of surveys has been treated and
made accessible to scholars and researchers. To the surveys conducted by the CIS itself,
we must add qualitative studies and investigations carried out by other institutions, such as
the CIRES, or international studies such as the European survey on values. The CIS data
bank contains the more than 1,600 studies that are described in a detailed catalogue of their
27
characteristics and the related products to which access is provided. These include the
marginal notes of the surveys, and the raw data files, which can be then analysed in
accordance with particular needs. It is also possible to request tables or specific data
analyses. This collection of data is completed with time series of indicators and indices,
and specific studies available on CD-ROM with all the information from the different
surveys available.
7KH 'DWDEDVHV RI &,5(6 &HQWUR SDUD OD ,QYHVWLJDFLyQ GH OD 5HDOLGDG 6RFLDO
(VSDxROD
A quarter of a century after Foessa’s call for projects to establish a system of social
indicators, Juan Diez Nicolás, the author of one of the finalist projects, started an ambitious
study to offer systematic information on Spanish society, based on monthly monographic
surveys, to scholars, researchers, social scientists and all who are interested in a database
on our society. The attention of these surveys was on specific spheres of Spanish society,
but with the particularity that they all included one common part. This was the CIRES
(Centro para la Investigación de la Realidad Social Española – Centre for Research on
Spanish Social Reality) project, which conducted 47 surveys from 1990 on, which gave
rise to five large annual reports that included the most significant findings and a basically
descriptive analysis of the results. Although this is not a unitary social report, like those
published by FOESSA, The amount of information provided and the attempt to study
broad time series from a common set of indicators, represents a highly significant
contribution to sociological knowledge. The CIRES studies deal more with social problems
that specific sectors (drugs, supranational identification, attitudes towards immigrants, the
elderly, among others).
Besides the descriptive analysis of the data performed by the CIRES itself in its annual
volumes63, by subscription one could access the raw data files and the definition of
variables for later use. Spanish researchers and social scientists thus had, totally free of
cost, a primary source of data on different spheres of Spanish reality to perform specific
analyses in accordance with their needs. This database, then, is a relevant source of
information on Spanish society during the period in which it was established and has been
the origin of a large variety of studies and Ph. D. The sis. This data, and the surveys from
which they are taken, are now available through the international survey and social studies
archive, ARCES, on the Web page of the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
But in addition to the singularity of this contribution, the CIRES project established a
system of indicators that was common to all the surveys, which permitted detailed
monitoring of the evolution of our society, with the possibility of aggregating the
individual interviews in a sample of 12,000 questionnaires a year. The set of variables,
indicators and indexes that the CIRES project covered referred to up to 50 variables related
to the home, the interviewee, indicators and attitude indexes. It is a good example of the
application of a homogenous system of indicators with a view to a global explanation of
Spanish society. The following table shows some of the indexes used during five years of
research.
63
CIRES (1992): La realidad social en España, 1990-91, Fundación BBV-Bilbao Bizcaia Kutxa-Caja de
Madrid, Bilbao
28
&,5(6,1'(;(6
Socio-economic family status
Social position
Geographic mobility
Personal concerns
Satisfaction with life
Personal state of mind
Personal optimism
Social optimism
World optimism
Spatial identification
Time orientation
Happiness
Idealism
Dogmatism
Intolerance
Authoritarianism
Transcendentalism
Traditionalism
Moralism
Uncertainty about the future
Political alienation
Fatalism
Postmaterialism
Social relations
29
/LVWRI6RFLDO5HSRUWV
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Madrid 1992.
2. CARITAS ESPAÑOLA: Plan CCB: Plan de promoción social, asistencia social y
beneficiencia de la Iglesia española (tres volúmenes), Euramérica, Madrid, 1965-68.
3. CIRES: La realidad social en España, 1991-92, Fundación BBV-Bilbao Bizcaia KutxaCaja de Madrid, Ediciones B, Barcelona 1993.
4. CIRES: La realidad social en España, 1992-93, Fundación BBV-Bilbao Bizcaia KutxaCaja de Madrid, Ediciones B, Barcelona 1992.
5. CIRES: La realidad social en España, 1993-94, Fundación BBV-Bilbao Bizcaia KutxaCaja de Madrid, Bilbao 1995.
6. CIRES: La realidad social en España, 1994-95, Fundación BBV-Bilbao Bizcaia KutxaCaja de Madrid, Bilbao 1996.
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Memoria sobre la situación socioeconómica y laboral, Madrid, 1994.
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Memoria sobre la situación socioeconómica y laboral, Madrid, 1995.
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Memoria sobre la situación socioeconómica y laboral, Madrid, 1996.
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Memoria sobre la situación socioeconómica y laboral, Madrid, 1997.
11. CONSEJO ECONÓMICO Y SOCIAL: España 1997. Economía, trabajo y sociedad.
Memoria sobre la situación socioeconómica y laboral, Madrid, 1998.
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Fundación Independiente, Madrid, 1993.
15. DEL CAMPO, S. (Dir.): Tendencias sociales en España, 1960-1990, (tres volúmenes)
Fundación BBV, Madrid, 1993.
30
16. DE MIGUEL, A.: La sociedad española 1992-93, Alianza Editorial-UCM, Madrid,
1992.
17. DE MIGUEL, A.: La sociedad española 1993-94, Alianza Editorial-UCM, Madrid,
1994.
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1995.
19. DE MIGUEL, A.: La sociedad española 1995-96, Alianza Editorial-UCM, Madrid,
1996.
20. DE MIGUEL, A.: La sociedad española 1996-97, Alianza Editorial-UCM, Madrid,
1997.
21. FRAGA, M.; DEL CAMPO, S.; VELARDE, J.: La España de los años 70. Vol. I: La
Sociedad; Vol. II: La economía; Vol III: El Estado y la Política, Edit. Moneda y
Crédito, Madrid 1972.
22. FUNDACIÓN ENCUENTRO: España 1993. Una interpretación de su realidad social,
Madrid 1994.
23. FUNDACIÓN ENCUENTRO: España 1994. Una interpretación de su realidad social,
Madrid 1995.
24. FUNDACIÓN ENCUENTRO: España 1995. Una interpretación de su realidad social,
Madrid 1996.
25. FUNDACIÓN ENCUENTRO: España 1996. Una interpretación de su realidad social,
Madrid 1997.
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Madrid 1998.
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Madrid 1999.
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Madrid 2000
29. FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (DE MIGUEL, A.; GOMEZ-REINO, M.; ORIZO, F.A.):
Informe sociológico sobre la situación social de España, Euramérica, Madrid 1966.
30. FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (DE MIGUEL, A.): Informe sociológico sobre la situación
social de España, Euramérica, Madrid 1970.
31. FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (Varios autores): Estudios sociológicos sobre la situación
social de España 1975, Euramérica, Madrid 1976.
31
32. FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (Varios autores): Informe sociológico sobre el cambio social
de España 1975-1983, Euramérica, Madrid 1983.
33. FUNDACIÓN FOESSA (JUAREZ, M. (Dir.)): V Informe sociológico sobre la
situación social de España. Sociedad para todos en el año 2.000, Madrid 1994.
34. GINER, S.(Dir.): España: sociedad y política Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1990.
35. INE: Panorámica social, Madrid 1975.
36. INE: Panorámica social de España, Madrid 1994.
37. INE: Indicadores Sociales Madrid, 1991
38. INE: Indicadores Sociales de España Madrid, 1999.
39. LINZ, J.J.; GARCIA DE ENTERRIA, E. (dirs) : España: un presente para el futuro.
Vol I: La sociedad; Vol II: Las instituciones, Instituto de Estudios Económicos, Madrid
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40. TEZANOS, J.F.; MONTERO, J.M.; DÍAZ, J.A. (eds.): Tendencias de futuro en la
sociedad española. Primer Foro sobre Tendencias Sociales, Edit. Sistema, Madrid,
1997.
41. TEZANOS, J.F: Escenarios del nuevo siglo. Cuarto Foro sobre Tendencias Sociales,
Edit. Sistema, Madrid, 2000.
42. VIDAL-BENEYTO, J. (Ed.): España a debate. Vol I: La política. Vol II: La sociedad
Tecnos, Madrid 1991.
32