2000

CG -- Statistics

Since 1955, the Erich Schmidt publishing house has brought out a loose-leaf collection of graphical representations of social and political statistical data. This CD-ROM includes about 200 topics from the supplementary fascicles of the 1998 collection. This is a very limited selection, which cannot replace the paper version. Many organizations and topics represented in the loose-leaf version do not appear at all on the CD-ROM. In short, it is too fragmentary and too cursory to be taken seriously by teachers or students. [jpl/mrh]
 
 

Interpreting tables of data and statistics is often difficult for the layperson, and therefore works like the Statistisches Jahrbuch...für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland [Statistical Yearbook...for the Federal Republic of Germany], published by the Statistisches Bundesamt (German Statistical Agency), often lie unused on the bookshelf. Few people are aware that every two years the same agency publishes a supplementary report that provides selected data with accompanying interpretations in more accessible form. The Datenreport consists of two parts--the first a compilation of the most important data from the Statistisches Jahrbuch and the second an interpretive analysis of welfare data by scholars of social research from two noted "think tanks," the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (Berlin Center for Social Research), and the Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen, Mannheim (Mannheim Center for Surveys, Methods, and Analyses). The basic report first appeared in 1983, whereas the second part grew out of the former Soziologischer Almanach [Sociological Almanac], in existence since the 1970s.

Part I of the 1999 report provides "hard" data concerning population, education, employment, unemployment, income and expenses of private households, lifestyle, leisure, social activities, health, social security, administration of justice, public budgets, economy, agriculture, forestry, production, service sector, prices and wages, transportation, energy and raw materials, and the environment, both for Germany and for the European Union. Part II treats approximately the same topics, but from the more subjective perspective of living standards and well-being, covering issues such as satisfaction, values, health, education, employment opportunities, relationship to work, lifestyle, family, public safety, social participation, environment, social class and position, problem groups, foreigners, distribution of wealth, and societal conflict. The information is presented through a variety of tables, graphs, and maps.

This work has no equal in its accessible presentation of statistical data, and it is highly recommended. The report may be purchased but is also available at no charge from the Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung or from the Statistisches Bundesamt. In addition, it is available online at <http://www.statistik-bund.de/allg/d/veroe/d_datend.htm>, where individual chapters can be downloaded as PDF documents. [jpl/akb]

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