Social reporting

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The social reporting provides the information that the social planning needs to be proactive, d. i.e. to be able to plan the need for facilities and measures.

purpose

As a planning instrument, it is part of social planning, namely the beginning and the end of each planning cycle, which means that social reporting, in addition to the basis for planning, also evaluates the same. The aim of social reporting is the permanent observation of social change and general welfare development. The three tasks of communal social reporting as an information function, a planning function and an evaluation function can be summarized from the points just mentioned. The ability to recognize problems as well as the requirement of references to the identified problems is rated as an information function. The planning function is the creation of a basis for the development of concrete measures and the setting of priorities. In addition, this area of ​​responsibility also includes the presentation and evaluation of models and solution patterns from other organizations and municipalities. The evaluation function includes monitoring the success of the measures, but also the unintended consequences of measures.

If the reporting data is up-to-date and updated at regular intervals, the social reporting represents an early warning system for social planning. This means that regional disparities in the life situations of the residents can be revealed.

The social situation

The "social situation" is the basic structure of the reporting. The concept of the “social situation” describes and analyzes people's life situations. Hradil developed the concept of the “social situation” with which individual goals in life and the connections with permanent social conditions can be analyzed.

The concept of “social situation” contains four social indicators with a range of characteristics. With the characteristics of income, wealth, education, occupation and formal position of power, the economic situation primarily includes material characteristics of the people. This material dimension, however, is extremely important for the realization of individual goals.

The indicator “welfare state protection” represents the state intervention which, through transfer payments and infrastructure equipment, helps to shape people's living conditions. The characteristics belonging to the indicator “welfare security” are income security, protection against common existential risks such as illness in old age and crime, working conditions as well as living environment and infrastructure in the local area.

The characteristics of membership in organizations (trade unions, churches, associations), social integration, ethnic identity, stigmatization and self-help capabilities, which are summarized under the indicator “social participation”, encompass the area of ​​social integration or the area of ​​social networks. This part of the concept of the “social situation”, which is very important for the mental state, reflects the non-material values ​​and is probably of great importance when examining marginalized groups. With the indicator “Subjective Assessment”, two changes of perspective are made, firstly a change from objectively ascertainable living conditions to personal attitudes, and secondly a change from more quantitative to more qualitative methods. According to SCHMID-URBAN, P. the indicator “subjective assessment” consists of the characteristic of “satisfaction with the life situation”.

Due to the “pluralization of life situations”, more attention must be paid to the subjective assessment.

Indicators

In the context of social reporting, a set of social structures and problem indicators based on the concept of “social situation” is recorded. These data sets determine the quality of social reporting. The quality of the data sets is determined on the basis of the three characteristics validity, timeliness and selection of the data. The topicality of the data is of paramount importance for social planning in the sense of municipal monitoring. The existing data sources, i.e. H. the official statistical data, are evaluated.

In addition, in-depth forms of reporting for socio-politically explosive problem situations should take place at regular intervals.

The social structures and problems of the population are to be presented using statistically usable data. For this, however, social phenomena have to be pressed into numbers. To make this possible, indicators are created which are composed of various data and then reflect an area of ​​social reality. Social indicators are therefore only auxiliary constructions that stand for social facts that cannot be directly measured.

However, there is no generally accepted system of social indicators for compiling municipal social reports. LUKAS, H. cites the fact that, in addition to official statistics, various other data are also collected and used as reasons for this. In addition, the discussion on the basis of the data in the specialist public was not energetic enough.

literature

  • Peter Flora, Heinz-Herbert Noll (ed.): Social reporting and observation of the welfare state. Individual welfare and welfare state institutions as reflected in empirical analyzes. Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1999.
  • D. Kühn, U. Feldmann: Management support through social planning and controlling at the municipal level. Berlin 2005.
  • H. Lukas: Social reports and social planning. In: R. Lutz, M. Zeng (ed.): Poverty research and social reporting in the new federal states. Opladen 1998, pp. 269-286.
  • S. Mardorf: Concepts and methods of social reporting. An empirical analysis of communal poverty and social reports. Wiesbaden 2006.
  • Heinz-Herbert Noll: Social Indicator Research and Social Reporting: Approaches to Measuring and Analyzing Quality of Life. In: Nikolaj B. Genov (ed.): The development of sociological knowledge. Half a century of results. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2005, pp. 185–212.
  • M. Riege, H. Schubert: Social space analysis. Basics - Methods - Practice. Wiesbaden 2002.
  • P. Schmid-Urban, R. Dilcher, U. Feldmann, W. Hanesch, R. Spiegelberg: Communal social reporting . Frankfurt am Main 1992.