Preface
letöltésTóth, István György; Gábos, András; Medgyesi, Márton
Preface
The reader holds in their hands the 18th volume of the Social Report. With this, our series has undoubtedly secured a European championship title—no other publication of this genre on our continent has been issued as many times. However, our history is not the longest, as when the founding fathers of the series—Rudolf Andorka, Tamás Kolosi, and György Vukovich—compiled the first volume in 1990, they followed the model of Western European research institutes in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
The origins of social reports and monitoring programs date back to the 1970s when the prosperous welfare states of Western Europe used both general and individual welfare indicators to simultaneously track development trends and shifts in the distribution of well-being. At the time, what appeared to be rapid progress in data infrastructure—though now considered rudimentary—laid the foundation for the emergence of such report series. This was also a period when economic development and social prosperity carried an entirely unambiguous positive connotation.
Today, this perception has changed in many places—partly due to the spread of ideologies challenging economic growth and partly due to the shifting framework of evidence-based policymaking. Similarly, the range of countries publishing social reports has evolved. While the indicators, chapter structures, and specific approaches may vary, their fundamental purpose remains unchanged.
We take pride in the fact that, despite occasional financial uncertainties, this series published by TÁRKI has maintained a steady presence on the international stage. Moreover, our research institute plays an active role in organizing the international movement dedicated to social indicator-based reports, and TÁRKI also operates the website for the annual conferences in this field.