A New Orientation in American Government

Abstract

The variety of approaches and subjects in this volume reflects the information explosion in social indicators. Current expansion of social indicator activity has been given impetus by: (1) the growing awareness of the contributions and limitations of economic information; (2) the implementa tion of the Planning-Programming-Budgeting System within the federal government; and (3) specific proposals for in creased utilization of social information, such as the Technol ogy Commission's call for social accounting, annual Social Reports of the President, and a "Full Opportunity and Social Accounting Act." Normative concerns require that our "data system" remain unsystematic, with promotion of both multiple sources and dissonance. Furthermore, the development and use of social information should not be thought of solely in executive agency terms—there is a creative role for Congress in this area.