The IsssA (and its predecessor the NSSS) is Australia’s leading sociological survey. It conducts a lengthy (over two hour) annual survey of a large representative national sample, sometimes with a panel element. It has conducted more or less annual surveys since 1984. The survey is an omnibus including (1) the NSSS, a public use survey focusing on Australia; (2) research projects by the principal investigators and others; (3) the annual International Survey Program module, also asked in 9 other nations (for these 1987/88 data, rising to 31 nations at present); and (4) occasional modules sponsored by government and other groups. 

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), a collaborative venture co-founded by the IsssA group in 1985, now includes leading, mostly academic survey groups in 31 nations. At the time this 1987/88 survey, it included 8 nations: Australia, Austria, Britain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. It conducts annual 15 minute modules on various topics, repeated every 5 to 7 years to measure changes over time. It is now one of the leading international survey projects in sociology. Its "social inequality" module was originally proposed by Kelley and Evans, who also chaired the Drafting Group for all three rounds of the survey: in 1987/88 (the data described in this codebook), in 1992/93 (data available through the internet from www.issp.org), and in 1999/2000 (forthcoming). The 1987/88 survey was also repeated by Polish and Swiss groups (the data are in this codebook too). 

This survey’s major focus in on the ideology of inequality. The principal investigators of the project (and with Clive Bean, principal investigators of this survey as a whole) are:

JONATHAN KELLEY is Director of the International Survey Program and Senior Fellow in the Research School of Social Sciences. He is a graduate of Cambridge University (BA) and the University of California (PhD). He is currently studying inequality, social mobility, and attitudes toward the economy. These analyses are based on cross-national data from the International Social Survey Project and the International Survey of Economic Attitudes.

He has published widely in academic journals in Australia and overseas, including Australia (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology); Britain (Sociology; British Journal of Sociology); Europe (International Social Science Journal; Social Indicators Research; Quality and Quantity); and the USA (American Journal of Sociology; American Sociological Review; American Political Science Review; American Journal of Political Science; Comparative Politics; Public Opinion Quarterly; Sociological Methods and Research).

M.D.R. EVANS is Senior Research Fellow in the Research School of Social Sciences. She is a graduate of Reed College (BA) and the University of Chicago (PhD). She is currently studying the causes, consequences, and policy implications of: entrepreneurship; migration; labor market preferences, values and participation; and the ideology of income inequality.

She has published widely in academic journals in Australia and overseas, including Australia (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology); Britain (Sociology; British Journal of Sociology); Europe (European Sociological Review; Social Indicators Research); and the USA (American Journal of Sociology; American Sociological Review; International Migration Review; Population and Development Review; Research in Social Stratification and Mobility). 

The major articles published so far from this survey are:

"Images of Class: A Comparative Analysis of Public Perceptions in Hungary and Australia". M.D.R. Evans, Jonathan Kelley, and Tamas Kolosi. AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW, 57 (1992): 461-482.

"The Legitimation of Inequality: Norms on Occupational Earnings in Nine Nations". Jonathan Kelley and M.D.R. Evans. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, 99 (July, 1993): 75-125.

"Class and Class Conflict in Six Western Nations". Jonathan Kelley and M.D.R. Evans. AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW, 60 (April, 1995): 157-178.