ALLBUS/GGSS 1980-2010 (Kumulierte Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften/ Cumulated German General Social Survey 1980-2010)

ALLBUS (GGSS - the German General Social Survey) is a biennial trend survey based on random samples of the German population. Established in 1980, its mission is to monitor attitudes, behavior, and social change in Germany. Each ALLBUS cross-sectional survey consists of one or two main question modules covering changing topics, a range of supplementary questions and a core module providing detailed demographic information. Additionally, data on the interview and the interviewers are provided as well. Key topics generally follow a 10-year replication cycle, many individual indicators and item batteries are replicated at shorter intervals.

ALLBUS/GGSS 1980-2010 compiles all of the time series in the ALLBUS program (i.e. it contains data for all questions that have been surveyed in at least two of the so far 17 cross-sectional surveys).<br>1.) Economy: assessments of the present and future economic
situation in Germany and in one´s own federal state; assessment of
present and future personal economic situation.

2.) Political attitudes and participation: satisfaction with federal
government, state government, German democracy, and with the
performance of the German political system (political support);
self-placement on left-right continuum; political interest; party
inclination; voting intention (Sonntagsfrage); participation in last
federal elections; recall of vote in last federal elections;
party-sympathy-scales for the CDU, CSU, SPD, FDP, Republicans
(Republikaner), NPD, PDS, DKP as well as the Greens (Bündnis 90 / Die
Grünen); likelihood of voting for different political parties;
political participation; voluntary activities or honorary offices;
attitudes towards nuclear energy, the death penalty for terrorists,
towards the privatization of publicly owned companies, and towards
abortion; democracy scale; perception of individual influence on
politics (political efficacy, political alienation); gap between
politicians and citizens; self-assuredness with regard to political
group work; too much complexity in politics; the politicians´ closeness
to constituents; personal and average citizen´s level of political
knowledge; majority capable of working in a political group;
participation in the vote as a civic duty; postmaterialism (importance
of law and order, fighting rising prices, free expression of opinions,
and influence on governmental decisions).

3.) Attitudes relating to the process of German unification: attitude
towards the demand for increased willingness to make sacrifices in the
West and more patience in the East; unification is advantageous, for
East and West respectively; future of the East depends on the
willingness of eastern Germans to make an effort; strangeness of
citizens in the other part of Germany; performance pressure in the new
states; attitude towards dealing with the Stasi-past of individuals;
evaluation of socialism as an idea.

4.) Social inequality and the welfare state: fair share in standard of
living; self-assessment of social class and classification on a
top-bottom-scale; evaluation of personal occupational success,
comparison with father´s position and personal occupational
expectations for the future; perceived strength of conflicts between
social groups; attitudes towards the German economic system and
evaluation of policies supporting the welfare state; evaluation of
equal educational opportunities for everyone; prerequisites for social
success; income differences as incentive to achieve; acceptance of
social differences; evaluation of personal social security; attitudes
towards expansion or cuts in social services; attitudes towards cuts in
the defense budget; perceived stance of the federal government in these
matters.

5.) Confidence in public institutions and organizations: health
service, federal constitutional court, federal parliament, local
government, German armed forces, churches, judiciary, television,
newspapers, universities, federal government, trade unions, police,
political parties, employment offices, retirement insurance, employers´
association, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the
European Court of Justice.

6.) National pride: pride in German institutions and German
achievements; pride in being a German.

7.) Ethnocentrism and Minorities: attitude towards the influx of
eastern European ethnic Germans, asylum seekers, labor from EU or
non-EU countries; perceived consequences of presence of foreigners in
Germany; treatment of foreigners by the administration; ranking in
terms of importance of different citizenship requirements; scale of
attitudes towards foreigners and contacts with foreigners (split:
guest-workers) within the family, at work, in the neighborhood, or
among friends; opinion on dual citizenship and on equal rights for
foreigners; perceived strength of conflict between guest workers and
German citizens; support for the teaching of Islam in public schools;
estimation of proportion of foreigners in East and West Germany and
in the neighborhood where respondent lives; perceived differences in
lifestyle; indicators for social distance to ethnic minorities and
foreigners; items on anti-Semitism; perception and evaluation of
discriminatory behavior towards foreigners.

8.) Attachment to various political entities: attachment to one´s own
municipality, the federal state, the old Federal Republic or the GDR,
unified Germany and the EU.

9.) Attitudes towards marriage, family, and partnership: family as a
prerequisite for happiness; marriage in case of steady partnership or
if child was born; ideal number of children; attitude towards
employment of women and mothers; importance of educational goals; most
important educational goals in school; classification of the importance
of certain educational aspirations for a child; desired characteristics
of children; authoritarianism; importance of the family.

10.) Attitudes towards abortion: abortion because of health risks for
mother or child; abortion after rape, due to financial situation or by
single women not wanting to marry; permitting abortion without
restriction.

11.) Questions on AIDS (HIV): knowledge of the disease AIDS; perceived
reports in the media; attitudes towards higher health insurance fees
for AIDS-infected people; attitudes towards dismissal of AIDS-infected
employees and towards entry refusal for AIDS-infected foreigners;
attitude towards mandatory registration of HIV-infected individuals;
worry about personal AIDS infection; personal protective measures and
behavioral changes; AIDS-infected people in one´s own circle of
friends.

12.) Importance of life aspects and job characteristics: family and
children, occupation and work, free time and recreation, friends and
acquaintances, kinship, religion and church, politics and public life,
neighborhood; preferred job characteristics (security, income,
responsibility, etc.).

13.) Free time activities: reading books; reading magazines; listening
to records, CD´s, cassettes; watching videos; using the computer;
surfing the internet; private further education; relaxing, being lazy;
walking or hiking; yoga, meditation; going to restaurants; visiting
friends; visiting relatives; playing games; taking short trips;
participating in politics; voluntary activities or honorary offices;
attending church or religious events; indulging in art and music; do it
yourself; active sport; attending sports events, going to the cinema,
to pop concerts, jazz or dance events; classic culture (i.e. opera,
classical concerts, theater, exhibitions).

14.) Use of media: frequency of watching television over the week;
taste in television programs: shows and quiz shows, sports, movies,
news broadcasts, political magazines, art and culture programs,
traditional German ´Heimat´-films, detective films, action films,
sitcom or entertainment series; frequency of reading a daily newspaper
per week.

15.) Religion and world view: belief in God,
cosmology, and the meaning of life; self-assessment of religiousness;
membership in a church; present and former denominational membership;
funeral by church; marriage in church; baptism of children; frequency
of church attendance and prayer; interest in Christian programs in the
media.

16.) Environment: perception of general environmental pollution and
personally experienced environmental pollution.

17.) Attitudes towards and contacts with the administration:
evaluation of administration services and assessment of treatment by
the administration.

18.) Anomia and fear of crime: general feeling of trust in ordinary
people and in politicians; social pessimism and orientation towards the
future (anomia); fear of crime; fear of unemployment or loss of
business.

19.) Deviant behavior and sanctions: opinion on various deviant acts
with reference to their reprehensibility and the degree to which they
deserve persecution; respect of the law; probability of engaging in
various deviant acts in the future; self-reported deviant behavior;
assessment of probability of being caught committing various crimes;
lowering the crime rate through severer punishment; own victimization.

20.) ALLBUS-Demography: Details about the respondent: month and year
of birth, age, gender, citizenship(s) (nationality), number of
citizenships; original citizenship, place of residence (federal state,
administrative district, size of municipality, BIK-type of
municipality, Boustedt-type of municipality) and length of residence;
geographical origin; religious denomination, frequency of church
attendance; currently at school or university, school education,
vocational training, possession of driver´s license, employment status,
details about current and former occupation respectively, details about
first occupation, industrial sector, fear of unemployment or loss of
business, affiliation to public service, length of commute, supervisory
functions, date of termination of full- or part-time employment, length
of employment, working hours per week (primary and secondary job), size
of company, length of unemployment, gaps in occupational biography,
desire for work, principal source of livelihood, respondent´s income,
age when leaving parental home, migration to East or West Germany,
interest in migrating to East or West Germany or to another EC country,
length of residence (in the FRG, in this federal state, current place
of residence), country respondent lived in when young, type of
dwelling, self-description of place of residence, telephone, overall
health, physical and psychological shape during the last four weeks,
height and weight, marital status, marital biography, desire to have
children.

Details about respondent´s current spouse: citizenship(s), number of
citizenships, original citizenship, age, religious denomination, school
education, vocational training, employment status, details about
current and former occupation respectively, affiliation to public
service, date of termination of full- or part-time employment, length
of unemployment, fear of unemployment or loss of business. Details
about respondent´s former spouse: age, religious denomination, school
education, vocational training, details about current and former
occupation respectively. Details about respondent´s steady partner:
citizenship(s), number of citizenships, original citizenship, age,
common household, distribution of household chores, school education,
vocational training, employment status, details about current and
former occupation respectively, affiliation to public service, fear of
unemployment or loss of business, date of termination of full- or
part-time employment. Details about respondent´s parents and
grandparents: country of origin, school education of father and mother,
university education of father and mother, vocational training of
father and mother, details about parents´ occupation. Description of
household: size of household, household income, types of income in
household, number of persons older than 17 in household (reduced size
of household), number of children. Details about household members:
family relation to respondent, gender, month and year of birth, age,
marital status, income, German citizenship. Details about children not
living in the household: number of children not living in the
household, sex, age. Respondent´s current memberships (Deutscher
Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB) <German Confederation of Trade Unions>,
Deutsche Angestelltengewerkschaft (DAG) <German Salaried Employees´
Trade Union>, Christlicher Gewerkschaftsbund (CGB) <Christian
Federation of Trade Unions>, Union Leitender Angestellter (ULA)
<Association of Executive Staff>, Deutscher Beamtenbund (DBB) <German
Civil Service Federation>, Deutscher Bauernverband <German Farmers
Association>, trade association, Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie
(BDI) <Federation of German Industries>, association of a liberal
profession, other occupational association; choral society, sports
club, leisure activity club, local citizens club or community club,
other social association, association of German expellees or refugees,
charitable association, religious/church organization, youth or student
organization, political party, citizens´ initiative, other club or
association); membership status of respondent in various clubs and
organizations; previous membership in a trade union. Friends and
acquaintances (ego-centered networks), including information on:
gender, age, kinship or type of relationship, school education,
employment, occupational position, occupational group, voting behavior,
current citizenship and country of origin, spatial distance between
alter and ego, comparative economic situation; quality and quantity of
contacts, mutual familiarity between friends or acquaintances.

21.) Data on the interview (paradata): Date of interview; beginning and end of
interview; length of interview; perceived attractiveness of respondent
at beginning and end of interview; taken part in how many interviews;
willingness to join panel; reachability of respondent; presence of
respondent at home during the last few weekdays; willingness to
participate; presence of other persons during interview; presence of
spouse, partner or children during interview; presence of other
relatives during interview; interference of other persons in the course
of the interview; willingness to cooperate and reliability of
information from respondent; respondent followed interview on screen;
frequency of private Internet use; willingness to participate in an
on-line survey; number of attempts to contact the respondent; details
about respondent´s residential building and assessment of respondent´s
neighborhood.

Details about the interviewer: gender, age, school education of
interviewer; identification number, length of experience as an
interviewer.

22.) Added value: Body-Mass-Index; Inglehart-Index; family
typology, classification of private households (according to Porst and
Funk); International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 1968,
1988); occupational prestige (according to Treiman); Standard
International Occupational Prestige Scale (SIOPS, according to
Ganzeboom), International Socio-economic Index of Occupational Status
(ISEI, according to Ganzeboom); magnitude prestige (according to
Wegener); occupational metaclassification (according to Pappi and
Terwey); class position (according to Goldthorpe); weights.