Social Accounting Systems: Essays on the State of the Art contains essays prepared during a workshop aimed at the development and promulgation of objectives for future work on social accounting, and the making of recommendations to achieve them by evaluating existing demographic and time-based accounting models. The essays describe and evaluate the state of the art of extant empirically based approaches to social accounting.
The book opens with an overview chapter that describes the organizations of the Workshop on Social Accounting Systems at which the essays were presented and discussed, the nature of the tasks assigned to authors, and the major themes of workshop discussions. This is followed by separate chapters on time-based social accounting systems and demographic accounting; how subjective social indicators can be related to social accounting systems; and general evaluations of the systems described in the previous chapters.
This book will be primarily of interest to social scientists and statisticians concerned with the development and integration of national data systems and with social indicator analyses. They also will be germane to the interests of students of contemporary social change and the quality of life.

List of ContributorsForewordPrefaceAcknowledgments1 Social Accounting Systems: An Overview Introduction The Workshop on Social Accounting Systems Different Interpretations of Social Accounting Uses of Social Accounting Systems Alternative Data Strategies Conclusions and Next Steps References2 The Theory and Measurement of Well-Being: A Suggested Framework for Accounting and Analysis Introduction Resources, Activities, and Outcomes Framework of the Accounts System Empirical Analysis Appendix A: The Value Added Problem in Measuring Net Social Output Postworkshop Reflections on Level of Aggregation Issues References3 A Social Production Framework for Resource Accounting The Approach The Social Production Concept An Illustration of Social Production as a Historical Process Outline of a System of Social Cost Accounting Conclusions References4 A Behavior Setting Approach to Social Accounts Combining Concepts and Data from Ecological Psychology, Economics, and Studies of Time Use The Current Status of Our Approach Derivation and Implications of a Scalar Measure of Total Income for Individuals and Population Aggregates Social Accounts for Urban-Centers Regions Behavior Settings as Basic Units in Social Accounts for Complete Communities Behavior Mechanisms as a Link between Barker's Methods of Behavior Setting Surveys and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) System for Describing Jobs The Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Handbook for Analyzing Jobs (DOT-HAJ) System for Describing Jobs Descriptive Uses of Dot and Census Variables within the Framework of Gainful Employment at United States and Subnational Levels Assigning Equivalent Dollar Values to Behavior Inputs Used in Gainful Employment Estimating the Values of Behavior Inputs Made by the Entire Population of the Des Moines BEA Economic Area A National Linkage of the DOT-HAJ System with the SRC Survey of Time Use Prospects for a Comprehensive System of Social Accounts Linking Barker's Concepts with Published Data Systems Suggestions for Data Development and Implications for Social Indicators Research References5 Social Accounts Based on Map, Clock, and Calendar Introduction Divisibility, Proximity, and Recurrence as Organized Features of the Physical World Recurrence and Surprise in Human Activities Human Physical Coordination Systematic Accident Gradual versus Abrupt Change The Rhythmic Structure of Human Life Physical Precedence Four Basic Principles A Strategy for Social Environmental and Public Service Accounts Accounting Tactics Some Examples Discussion References6 Demographic Accounts and the Study of Social Change, with Applications to the Post-World War II United States The Demographic Approach to Social Accounting Social Change in a Demographic Accounting Framework Problems in the Construction of Empirical Demographic Accounts for the Post-World War II United States Concluding Comments-A Research Agenda for Demographic Accounting References7 The Relationship of Demographic Accounts to National Income and Product Accounts Introduction Demographic Accounts and Models Economic Accounts and Models Relating the Two Sets of Accounts and Models Evaluation and Commentary References8 Subjective Social Indicators, Objective Social Indicators, and Social Accounting Systems Introduction Conceptualization and Measurement of Perceived Well-Being Subjective Social Indicators and Social Accounting Systems Relationships between Subjective and Objective Social Indicators The Formation of Perceptions of Well-Being Some Promising Lines of Further Inquiry Summary References9 Social Indicators, Social Change, and Social Accounting: Toward More Integrated and Dynamic Models Social Indicators and Social Change: Promise