Data and Variables

Abstract

The Japanese data used in this study came from the 1975 Social Stratification and Mobility National Survey (hereafter SSM).¹ The first national survey on stratification in Japan was conducted in 1955 as a part of a project of ‘comparative social stratification and mobility’ by the International Sociological Association. Since then, a national survey on stratification has been conducted every decade to facilitate trend analysis. The 1975 SSM constitutes the third survey, and is the only survey which provides a public-use tape. The 1975 SSM was designed by 29 1975 SSM committee members who included sociologists, statisticians and scholars in other fields. They were responsible for constructing questionnaires and a pre-test, and for survey design and analysis; the actual fieldwork was conducted by the Public Opinion Science Society (Yoron Kagaku Kyokai), an independent survey organization.