Franz Rothenbacher
National and International Approaches in Social Reporting

EURODATA; 2
Mannheim
,
MZES
,
1993
ISSN: 0948-0102

National and international approaches in social reporting in Western Europe are described. The paper starts with the outline of current activities in international organizations. The competing national approaches are discussed. Further topics are the sources and products of social reporting; the plurality of actors in social reporting, and different ways of its institutionalization. The only incomplete diffusion of social reporting in Western Europe is described and some hypotheses are offered for an explanation. The conclusion points that there will be a new surge of social reporting in Europe in the 1990s. As a basis for its argumentation the paper presents rich tables on social surveys and a bibliography on social reporting by actor.