ALLBUS/GGSS Baseline Survey 1991 (Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften Basisumfrage/German General Social Survey - Baseline Survey 1991)

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.

Since the mid-1980ies ALLBUS also regularly hosts one or two modules of the ISSP (International Social Survey Programme).

The goal of the ALLBUS/GGSS Baseline Study 1991 was to capture a comprehensive picture of the realities of life in both parts of Germany immediately after the political unification of the two German states, and thus to lay the basis for the observation of the expected long-term social change in Germany. In addition to attitudes towards politics, the economy and the process of German reunification, questions on topics such as work and occupation, social inequality, and marriage and family were also asked. Additionally, the survey included the ISSP module "Religion".<br>1.) Political and economical attitudes: satisfaction with
democracy in the Federal Republic; opinion on the performance of the
German political system (political support); satisfaction with the
performance of the Federal Government and the state government;
eligibility to vote and electoral participation; recall of past vote;
voting intention (Sonntagsfrage); political interest; postmaterialism
(importance of law and order, fighting rising prices, free expression
of opinions, and influence on governmental decisions); political
participation; preference for tax cuts or for increased social
services; attitude towards the influx of eastern European ethnic
Germans, asylum seekers, labor from EC and non-EC countries;
self-placement on a left-right continuum; 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;
assessment of economic development in the old and new federal states.

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

3.) Attitudes relating to the process of German re-unification: more
advantages for East or West through German unification; the future in
the East depends on the willingness of eastern Germans to make an
effort; strangeness of citizens in the other part of Germany; pressures
to work harder in the East; the most important points of criticism of
the former GDR; attitudes towards the Stasi-past of individuals;
valuation of socialism as an idea.

4.) Work and occupation: work orientation and most important
characteristics of job; interest in becoming self-employed in the
future; personal experience of being self-employed in the past.

5.) Attitudes towards social inequality: fair share in the standard of
living; most important prerequisites for success in society; attitude
towards the welfare state and towards social differences.

6.) Attitudes towards marriage, family, and partnership: marriage in
case of steady partnership or child was born; family as a prerequisite
for happiness; attitude towards employment of women; baptism of
children; educational goals; regional origin of partner or spouse.

7.) Other topics: general trust in fellow men; social pessimism and
orientation towards the future (anomia); identification with own
community and federal state, the old Federal Republic resp. the GDR,
the unified Germany or the EC; importance of life aspects.

8.) ALLBUS-Demography: Details about the respondent: gender; date of
birth, age; place of residence (federal state, administrative region,
size of municipality, Boustedt-type of municipality); geographical
origin and citizenship; migration to East or West Germany, interest in
migrating to East or West Germany; religious denomination, frequency of
church attendance; general education, vocational training; employment
status; details about current occupation, length of employment,
industrial sector, affiliation to public service, supervisory
functions, working hours per week; length of commute; details about
first occupation; date of termination of full- or part-time employment;
details about former occupation; length of unemployment; respondent´s
income; marital status; possession of driver´s license; age when
leaving parental home; marital biography.
Details about respondent´s current spouse: cohabitation before
marriage; age; general education, vocational training; employment
status; details about current and former occupation respectively; date
of termination of full- or part-time employment.
Details about respondent´s former spouse: age; details about current
occupation.
Details about respondent´s steady extra-marital partner: length of
relationship; common household; month and year of birth, age; general
education, vocational training; employment status; details about
current and former occupation respectively.
Details about respondent´s parents: general education and vocational
training of father and mother; father´s occupation.
Composition of household: size of household; number of persons older
than 17 in household (reduced size of household); household income;
number of children; type of dwelling, telephone.
Details about household members: relation to respondent; gender; month
and year of birth, age; marital status.
Respondent´s current memberships (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB,
blue-collar union), Deutsche Angestelltengewerkschaft (DAG,
white-collar union), Christlicher Gewerkschaftsbund (CGB, Christian
union), Union Leitender Angestellter (ULA, association of managers),
Deutscher Beamtenbund (DBB, public service union), farmer´s
association, trade association, Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie
(BDI, association of German industry), association of a liberal
profession, other occupational association; choral society, sports
club, leisure activity club, local history or community club, other
social association, association of German expellees or refugees,
charitable association, religious/church organization, youth or student
organization, political party (plus former membership), citizens´
action group, other club or association).

9.) Data on the interview (paradata): beginning and end of interview; length of
interview; size class of municipality; presence of respondent in the
last four days prior to personal interview.

10.) Religion I (ISSP): assessment of personal happiness; opinions on
social responsibility of the government regarding creating jobs and
income leveling; harsher punishment and death penalty as measures for
fighting crime; attitude towards pre-marital sexual intercourse and
marital infidelity; attitudes towards homosexuality and abortion;
assessment of the distribution of roles in a marriage and attitude
towards working women; tax payer honesty and attitude towards the
honesty of citizens with the federal government; confidence in
institutions such as the Federal Parliament, commerce, industry, the
administration, churches, courts, and schools; attitude towards atheist
politicians and officials; influence on voters and on the government by
church leaders; opinion on the power of churches and religious
organizations; doubt or strong belief in God; perceived closeness to
God; development of personal belief in God; belief in a life after
death; belief in the devil, heaven, hell, and miracles; conviction
towards the Bible; fatalism; cosmology, the meaning of life and
Christian interpretation of life; ties with the dead; religious ties at
a turning point in life; religious orientation of father and mother;
personal religious orientation; frequency of church attendance of
father, mother, and partner; personal religious orientation and
frequency of church attendance in youth; frequency of prayer and
participation in religious activities; self-assessment of
religiousness; attitude towards school prayer; personal conscience,
social rules or laws of God as the basis for decisions; attitude
towards prohibition of religious criticism in literature and films;
tasks of the church; superstition; belief in good luck charms, fortune
tellers, faith healers, signs of the zodiac, horoscopes.

11.) Added value: 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); magnitude prestige (according to
Wegener); class position (according to Goldthorpe); occupational
meta-classification (according to Pappi and Terwey); weights.