DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03735.v1
title: Urban Morality Issues Incidents in Ten Cities, 1990-2000: [United States]
title: Version 1

description: This collection consists of data that tracked how ten city
governments in the United States responded to morality issues in the
last decade of the 20th century. The ten cities varied in their
geographic properties and were characterized by their locations, e.g.,
South City, Metro City, and Coast City. Morality issues were defined
as issues concerning actions or behaviors that were regulated by a
deeply held belief and/or a religious value. The issues falling within
this categorization were gay rights, abortion rights, abortion clinic
protests, needle exchange programs for drug users, hate speech, hate
groups, gambling policies and regulations, animal rights, and
regulations pertaining to the sex industry, which included
pornography, prostitution, and adult entertainment. Incidents or
events in the ten cities related to these moral issues were
identified. The data were generated by scanning local newspapers to
isolate and gather relevant information about the selected cities,
interviewing political elites (e.g., mayor, city manager, and council
person), and reviewing public government records for the selected
cities. Part 1, Ten City Data, contains data on 451 incidents related
to morality issues in the ten cities. Part 2, Subset of Ten City Data
With City-Specific Variables, is a subset of the cases included in
Part 1 and also includes a broader array of city-specific contextual
variables. The variables shared by Part 1 and Part 2 are whether a
city had a mayor or a city manager, whether city council elections
were at-large or by district, the percentage or share of the city
council elected by a particular district, the strength and prevalence
of the city's homosexual community, the percentage of residents in the
county who attended religious services, the percentage of residents in
the county who identified themselves as Catholic or as religious
fundamentalists, and whether activists involved with this issue were
more likely to be from the left or right, politically. Additional
shared variables are city population in 1990 and 1998 (in thousands),
the percentage of population change between 1980-1990 and 1990-1998,
the metro area population in 1990 (in thousands), the percentage of
population change in the metro area from 1980-1990 and from 1990-1996,
the percentage of female, Asian, White, Black, and Hispanic residents,
the median household income, the percentage of married residents, the
percentage of female-headed households, the 1997 unemployment rate,
the percentage of same gender partnerships, the total number of
churches, the number of churches per capita, the percentage of
households with children under the age of 19, the percentage of the
population aged 18-34, the percentage of residents that were college
educated, income per capita, the percentage of foreign-born residents,
the percentage of residents living in poverty, and the acceptability
and prevalence of the city's "unconventional" or "counter"
culture. The variables contained only in Part 2, Subset of Ten City
Data With City-Specific Variables, are the type of community education
present, the type of social culture in the community, the percentage
of the work force employed in education or technology related jobs,
the percentage of women in the work force, and the total number of
churches in the county.
description: Ten of the 52 cities with populations greater or equal to
 300,000 were selected. The ten cities were selected based on the
 following criteria: (a) each city had to be +/- 0.75 standard
 deviation from the mean percentage of population in non-family
 households, (b) each city had to be +/- 0.75 standard deviation from
 the mean percentage of population change, and (c) within the group, a
 city contributed to maximizing the variation between governmental
structures.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Ten City Data
DS2: Subset of Ten City Data With City-Specific Variables
description: Cities within the United States with populations of at
least 300,000 people. At the time of the study, there were 52 cities
with populations of 300,000 or greater.
description: Those who make use of these data should
acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation
(9904482). Copies of all papers written on the basis of these data
should be sent to Elaine B. Sharp.