Social indicators are back in vogue.
Social analysts are showing interest once again in identifying and standardizing measurements of human well-being. After an extended dormant period lasting from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, a number of interests are rediscovering the promise and potential of a movement originally associated with the optimism of the growth period in social policy. However, this time the impetus comes from a concern with the impact of social expenditure reduction in an environment of high unemployment and growing inequality. Many interests are trying to make systematic and practical use of social statistics. What the symposium demonstrated is that there is no single social indicator movement in the 1990s.