Summary information

Study title

Great Britain Historical Database : Census Data : Social Class and Socio-Economic Group Statistics, 1931-1971

Creator

Dorling, D., University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Department of Geography
Aucott, P., University of Portsmouth, Department of Geography
Southall, H. R., University of London, Queen Mary and Westfield College, Department of Geography

Study number / PID

4561 (UKDA)

10.5255/UKDA-SN-4561-2 (DOI)

Data access

Open

Series

Not available

Abstract

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales. The first census report to tabulate social class was 1951, but this collection also includes a table from the Registrar-General's 1931 Decennial Supplement which drew on census occupational data to tabulate social class by region. In 1961 and 1971 the census used a more detailed classification of Socio-Economic Groups, from which the five Social Classes are a simplification. This is a new edition. Data from the Census of Scotland have been added for 1951, 1961 and 1971. Wherever possible, ID numbers have been added for counties and districts which match those used in the digital boundary data created by the GBH GIS, greatly simplifying mapping. Main Topics:Social Class Statistics from the 1931 Decennial Supplement for regions. Social Class Statistics from the 1951, 1961 and 1971 Censuses (including Scotland), mainly for men and type of occupation. Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.
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Methodology

Data collection period

01/01/1999 - 01/01/2002

Country

England and Wales, Scotland, Wales

Time dimension

Repeated cross-sectional study

Analysis unit

Administrative units (geographical/political)
National
Subnational

Universe

All occupied persons living in England and Wales in 1931. All occupied persons in Great Britain in 1951 and 1971. 1961 data are a 10 per cent sample from all occupied persons in Great Britain.

Sampling procedure

Quasi-random (eg random walk) sample
No sampling (total universe)

Kind of data

Numeric

Data collection mode

Transcription
Compilation or synthesis of existing material

Access

Publisher

UK Data Service

Publication year

2004

Terms of data access

  The Data Collection is to be made available to any user without the requirement for registration for download/access under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

Related publications

Not available