2.1c2 The National Opinion Research Center

Brief Overview

The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) began at the University of Chicago in 1941. NORC conducts research and analysis for governments and organizations and manages its own projects, including the General Social Survey (GSS). The first GSS was conducted in 1972. It provides attitudinal data about gender, marriage, civil liberties, politics, and more. The GSS uses in-person interviews to collect data from U.S. adults and shares it with other researchers for analysis. The survey asks a core set of questions that are asked the same way at each data collection. This means researchers can track changes in attitudes and behaviors over time.

Attitudes Toward Employed Mothers Have Improved

For instance, attitudes toward employed mothers have become more positive (see Figure 2.3). The GSS has asked people since 1977 whether they agree or disagree that “a preschool child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works” (Davern et al., 2023). Most people used to agree that preschool children of employed mothers suffer. Today, most people disagree with that conclusion. Attitudes often change more slowly than behavior. Further, these attitudes are consistent with scholarly research on the topic, which finds positive outcomes for children of employed mothers (McGinn et al.,  2019).

Attitudes Toward Employed Mothers Vary By Gender

The GSS results show how distinct groups of adults respond to a question, divided by age, education, race and ethnicity, and other variables. Figure 2.4, for example, shows how responses have changed at different rates for men and women. In every survey since 1977, men were likelier to agree that a preschool child would suffer if their mother worked. Women were more likely to disagree, and their attitudes changed ten years earlier (1988) than men’s (1998).