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Indicators of economic and social phenomena can be useful descriptive and analytical inputs for public policy. The “social indicators movement” has emerged in the last decade and is devoted to the measurement of widely‐ranging dimensions of human welfare. For the most part, questions of systematic measurement for public policy are explored here. Drawing initially on some traditions of measurement in economics, the principal aim is to provide a broad theoretical frame of reference for policy indicator design. Questions of indicator development necessarily involve ideas of suitability or validity of indicators designed for a purpose. Approaches to indicator design for the purpose of enhancing collective decision‐making—including formal model building approaches—are subsumed as special cases once a more general theory is espoused in sections II and III.

This paper aims to propose a new ecological systems-driven framework, underpinned by a relational marketplace lens, for social marketing practitioners to consider when planning and designing programs. The authors contend that behavioural change does not occur in a vacuum and, as such, point to an ecology in which the individual is but one participant in a broader scope of social change activities.

The paper is conceptual and presents the Indicators for Social Change Framework.

The Indicators for Social Change Framework puts forward a series of “must-have” indicators to consider when designing and planning social marketing programmes. Across identified indicators, the Framework delineates types of marketing actions to consider when planning for individual-oriented change and those required for wider systems-oriented change.

This paper contributes to the broadening and deepening of the social marketing argument that reliance on individual behaviour change perspectives is not sufficient to resolve complex social problems that are inherently influenced by wider social forces. In transforming social change design, this paper transitions towards a logic view of social marketing that encourages and supports social change planners to be inclusive of interactions, processes and outcomes of value creation across the wider social marketing system.

The term “social indicator” has become familiar in recent years in reference to the quantitative measurement of social phenomena. International organisations within the United Nations family and OECD have devoted special programmes to their development, and the term is frequently used by planners, politicians and the press. It has received the accolade of scientific respectability by having a special journal to its name, research programmes of the US National Science Foundation and the United Nations University, annual volumes under its title published by statistical offices of many countries and bibliographies devoted to the literature on the subject.

In 1971 Land argued that a social indicator should be a component, that is a parameter or a variable, in a sociological model of a social system or some segment of a social system. This was the first strong suggestion that social indicators needed to be more than some sort of statistical series. Lineberry et al, writing on the use of indicators by municipalities, warned that the first conceptual limitation which should be identified when promoting social indicator use must be the poor record of indicators in detecting causal relationships among various factors contributing to a specific social problem. They attribute this inability to the general lack of social theory. Bunge points out that the very definition of a social indicator of some life quality contains a causal notion relating that indicator to well‐being. This would be acceptable if there were a science of well‐being or at least some reasonable model. He goes on “since no such thing has been constructed so far, we are forced to use our treacherous common‐sense to an extent that is uncommon in science. Which is a polite way of saying that, so far, the study of the quality of life has not been thoroughly scientific.”

This study aims to address the research gap about value in the holistic discourse of creative placemaking. It identifies and synthesises the often discounted social and environmental values of creative placemaking along with typically emphasised economic values.

This paper builds upon two research phases; first, a review and extraction of creative placemaking value indicators from relevant current urban, cultural and planning literature; and second, the identification of relevant, practice-based, value indicators through interviews with 23 placemaking experts including practitioners, urban planners, developers and place managers from the two largest cities of NSW, Australia; Sydney and Newcastle.

This study identifies three broad thematics for valuing creative placemaking along with several sub-categories of qualitative and quantitative indicators. These indicators reveal the holistic value of creative placemaking for its key stakeholders, including expert placemakers, designers, building developers, government and community groups. A key conclusion of the research is the need for tools that grasp the interconnected, and at times conflicting, nature of placemaking’s social, economic and environmental outcomes.

While a variety of value indicators exist to understand the need for ongoing resourcing of creative placemaking, stakeholders identified the limitations of current approaches to determine, represent and appraise the value of creative placemaking. The indicators of value proposed in this research consolidate and extend current discourse about the value of creative placemaking specifically. The indicators themselves have profound practical implications for how creative placemaking is conceived, executed and evaluated. Theoretically, the study builds on the deep relationships between values and practice in creative placemaking, as well as critiquing narrow forms of evaluation that entrench economic benefits over other outcomes.

This paper aims to investigate the statistical and geographical links between the prevalence of obesity and a range of socio‐economic indicators in a major UK city

The geographical pattern of fresh fruit and vegetable retailing was mapped across Birmingham (UK), and this data was combined with UK census data from Neighbourhood Statistics to investigate possible correlations between obesity and the social geography of this city. To further elicit the varying underlying links between obesity and social conditions, a methodology of partial correlations was used to create “social transects” across Birmingham so the operational effects of social conditions upon poor diet could be investigated across a range of Birmingham neighbourhood types.

Across Birmingham as a whole, people whose ethnic or social make‐up did not fit the dominant group in their neighbourhood were more likely to be obese than those of the majority socio‐ethnic group for that area. The level of qualifications was the dominant influencer on obesity and diet. Particularly, less wealthy people in the more affluent areas of Birmingham were likely to suffer financial difficulties in eating healthily. However, in less affluent areas, being in (low‐paid) work actually increased the chances of being obese, as compared to being unemployed in these districts.

Changes in the pattern of retailing or changes in individual's social status over the period of this research may confound the results; however the research may be regarded as a snapshot of conditions in Birmingham in ca.2006. The areal analysis may be confounded by the MAUP problem, although as distance to shops does not emerge as a major predictor of obesity, the results are still valid. The research applies to only one city (Birmingham), although a wide range of neighbourhood types typical of other British cities are covered.

Time limitations emerge as a significant factor in diet, especially in the less‐affluent areas of Birmingham. The significance of a range of social indicators upon diet is greatly affected by the range of neighbourhood types sampled. Factors barring access to a healthy diet can vary upon very small scales, even down to the individual household. Distance to shops has an effect upon diet, but only as a “moderating factor” acting in conjunction with a wider range of economic and social factors.

The effects of poverty, and especially unemployment, have very different effects upon diet and obesity in poor as compared to affluent areas; and in poorer areas, time limitations upon households operate so as to worsen the diet of those in low‐paid work. This implies that dietary improvement initiatives aimed at the less well off should aim for a compromise between health and convenience; otherwise such initiatives will merely widen health inequalities. Minority groups in all areas, whether a minority by ethnicity, age, or wealth, need special attention by dietary investigators.

The use of partial correlations to elicit the different responses to socio‐economic conditions as regards diet has not been applied before to a major UK city. The distance to shops for all residential areas for a major UK city has not been previously mapped.

This paper seeks to consider the impact and potential impact of social accounting at the macro level. It aims to explore the potential for “silent” or “shadow” social accounting to hold Anglo‐American capitalism to account for its social outcomes relative to other “varieties of capitalism”.

The role of accounting in spreading Anglo‐American capitalist values is outlined. This is followed by a discussion of macro social indicators and their potential to problematise social outcomes. In particular the paper reports on, and updates, an investigation of comparative child mortality figures in wealthy countries that appeared in the medical literature. This evidence is used both as an exemplar and as a substantive issue in its own right.

The specific empirical evidence reported, based on a cross‐sectional and longitudinal analysis of child mortality and its relationship to income inequality, exemplifies the consistently poor and relatively worsening performance of the Anglo‐American capitalist model. A rationale, and evidence, is also presented for the potential of such social reporting to act as an accountability mechanism.

The paper introduces to the accounting literature specific evidence of poor social outcomes associated with Anglo‐American capitalism. It considers the wider potential role of social indicators, as a component of silent and shadow reporting at a macro‐level, in problematising dominant forms of economic and social organisation.

The chapter addresses the use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an indicator of social change and progress towards sustainability by analysing how stakeholders shift their CSR perceptions in different economic conjunctures between visions that are closer to communication or to governance as structures of network interaction. A matrix is presented that defines four models of CSR perception by integrating theoretical approaches of CSR framed by market or by society, by communication or by governance. Stakeholders’ perceptions are then positioned in the matrix through qualitative analysis of the diverse definitions, constructions and positions with respect to CSR made and adopted by corporate agents, social stakeholders and communicators in their discourses. The study proves that changes in how actors perceive and explain self-governed CSR do not depend so much on economic factors as on the networks of stakeholder interaction through communication and governance. Mapping CSR stakeholders’ perceptions indicates changes and limiting actors, but is not enough to isolate the triggers of those changes. The maps provide a starting point for further exploration of (de)politicization, framing, and understanding of CSR communication and governance, and for the analysis of the limitations of the current model of CSR self-governance. The theoretical approach and methodology provide a framework that integrates communication and governance as relational structures of network interaction in CSR.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the progress of social development in terms of social development index (SDI) of India in the pre- and post-reforms period.

This study used the methodology of Ray (1989, 2008) for the construction of composite index for social development, i.e. SDI. The study also used the ordinary least squares method of regression analysis for checking the impact of development expenditure, non-development expenditure and Per Capita Net National Product (PCNNP) on the SDI value.

The results show an increasing trend in social development. The findings of this study also suggest that there is a sharp increase in the index over the period between 2002/2003 and 2010/2011. But in the remaining period, sluggish improvement in social development has been observed. Though there has been growth in the social sector, but it is not much heartening and perhaps more efforts need to be done in the social sector in India. The results also exhibit that development expenditure, non-development expenditure and PCNNP are significantly affecting the SDI value.

The study suggests that the government should focus more on social sector programs and there is an urgent need to increase development and non-development expenditures to improve the overall social condition of the country.

The work is different in terms of number of development variables from the already existing literature in India. The author constructed the SDI by using the weighted sum of 12 transformed social variables which has not been studied previously.