GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY: THE QUESTIONS HAVE CHANGED SINCE 1972
Equality
Some of the opinions voiced in the 1972 survey are rarely uttered today. Back then, nearly four in 10 non- blacks agreed with the idea that whites had the right to keep blacks “out of their neighbourhoods.” A quarter of non- blacks said they wouldn’t vote for a black man for president, and 26 per cent of all adults wouldn’t back a well- qualifi ed woman. Now the president of the United States is black and a woman is the most- discussed presidential prospect for 2016. The GSS dropped those three questions in the 1990s.
Love and family
In 1972, the sexual revolution was ablaze. That year the Supreme Court ruled unmarried couples had a right to birth control. Still, a third of Americans back then disapproved of a woman working if she had a husband to support her. The GSS no longer bothers asking that one. Americans today are more worried about divorce and the increasing number of nevermarried moms. Nearly four out of 10 women who gave birth in 2011 were unmarried . Despite the social turmoil, 98 per cent of married people today say their union is happy, including two- thirds who are “very happy.” And marital fi delity remains an ideal endorsed by nearly all Americans. The political debate over abortion shows no signs of being resolved, more than 40 years after Roe vs. Wade. Young people are somewhat more conservative on the issue than middle- aged Americans. Gay marriage, on the other hand, appears headed toward future acceptance. Young people are solidly in favour, while opposition is strongest among the oldest Americans.
Money
Recession, a stock market crash, runaway infl ation and an oil crisis marred the U. S. economy in the early 1970s. Forty years later, those look like the good times to many. Before the recession hit in 2007, most people consistently said their family fi nances were getting better instead of worse. That’s not the case anymore. Americans are more likely to consider themselves “lower class” than ever in GSS history — 8 per cent say that. Whites are especially pessimistic about their prospects. Black and Hispanic optimism surged after Barack Obama became the fi rst black president in 2008. Yet overall, about half of Americans still believe their children will have a better standard of living than they do. “They’re going to have to deal with a lot,” Bill Hardy, a 67- yearold investment adviser, said of his grown children and three grandkids. “They’ll deal with it. Kids today are very smart.”