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Collection Description
The War-time Social Survey was established in April 1940, under the
auspices of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research,
to investigate questions of sociological importance. The Survey’s
methodology (questionnaires, interviews) and findings (on social problems
and public opinion) closely parallel the work of Mass-Observation
and researchers of life in wartime will find the Survey’s conclusions
useful both for comparison and contrast. Although the staff were chosen
by a professor of the University of London, clients included several
government departments and the work was soon absorbed into the Home
Intelligence Division of the Ministry of Information. Once officially
tied to the government, the Survey’s work broadened accordingly
from research into specific problems to a survey of general factors
affecting public opinion. Concerned at the effects of the loss of independent
scientific sponsorship, almost the entire body of staff resigned in
August 1941. The Survey continued its work under the surveillance of
the Ministry of Information.
The papers in the collection, the gift of an anonymous donor in 1969,
illustrate the Survey’s work between April 1940 and July 1941.
Included are papers of editors and interviewers, lists of directives
and reports, and miscellaneous editorial and managerial documents.
Among the many topics on which opinions were recorded and reports filed
were the treatment of conscientious objectors, food shortages and BBC
broadcasts. The Mass-Observation Archive also holds some papers of
the War-time Social Survey which relate to its findings rather than
its operations; in fact, Mass-Observation would sometimes integrate
Wartime Social Survey reports into its own ‘File Reports’.
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