Changing social structure of England and Wales, 1871-1951

The main object of this book is to introduce the student and the general reader to the maze of social statistics, which in recent years have become available, concerning the social structure of England and Wales. The emphasis throughout this study is on applied or descriptive statistics and a knowledge of statistical techniques on the part of the reader is not assumed, therefore those (and they seem to be many) who have an instinctive dislike of mathematics need not be deterred from following the attempt which has been made to analyse the changing social structure with the aid of social statistics.

Statistical data on the social structure can now be obtained from a great variety of sources, but it is the diversity and wide range of possible sources which all too often prevent the student and the well-informed citizen from making the attempt to add to their knowledge of the changing social structure. Most of us know that a Census of population is regularly taken in this country, but how many of us are aware of the wealth of in formation which is to be found in the official reports of the Census? Most of us know that nowadays there are a large number of Central Government Departments which are con cerned with regulating factors of social and economic policy affecting the social structure, but how many of us know that they publish annual reports containing valuable information rele vant for a better understanding of the social structure, and above all how many of us have the time or inclination to read them,

and if we do can we be sure of interpreting the data accurately? It is, in part, as a guide to some of the relevant sources and as an aid to the interpretation of the available information that this book is directed, and in effect I have tried to set up a series of signposts which indicate the present state of our knowledge (or more commonly our lack of knowledge) of the changing social structure.