Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.To examine public attitudes to an incomes policy, undertaken in January 1974.Main Topics:Attitudinal/Behavioural Questions First asking for the respondent's definition of an incomes policy, the survey then concentrates on the effects of such a policy, asking for agreement or disagreement with a series of statements concerning wages and incomes, respondent's choice of most acceptable reason for a pay rise from a given list of nine reasons and the respondent's attitude towards 'special cases'. Concerning the effect of an incomes policy on the respondent himself, information is obtained on whether respondent feels that such a policy would make him better off or not, what income level the respondent feels necessary to maintain a proper standard of living, whether the present government is doing enough for 'people like yourself', and, finally, what is understood by the phrase 'people like yourself', eliciting a subjective assessment of class. The effect of an incomes policy on the country's economy, on a capable and hardworking person's chances of getting on, on Britain as a place to live and on the amount of government interference in everyday life is also assessed. All those in full-time employment were asked whether they would, unconditionally, accept a pay increase of 7p in the $ or less and whether they would accept the following if the government was thereby able to keep prices steady: such a limitation on their annual pay rise (if they would not accept it unconditionally), the imposition of fines on unions making strikes for wage claims above the level allowed by the incomes policy, or a total wage freeze. Two final questions ask for the respondent's opinion as to whether any government could keep prices steady and for his attitude to the pay freeze of 1973. Some questions in this survey were taken from W G Runciman's <i>Relative Deprivation and Social Justice</i> (data held as...