NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL APPROACHES IN SOCIAL REPORTING

National and international approaches in social reporting in western E urope are described. The paper starts with the outline of current acti vities in international organizations. The competing national approach es are discussed. Further topics are the sources and products of socia l reporting; the plurality of actors in social reporting, and differen t ways of its institutionalization. The only incomplete diffusion of s ocial reporting in Western Europe is described and some hypotheses are offered for an explanation. The conclusion points that there will be a new surge of social reporting in Europe in the 1990s. As a basis for its argumentation the paper presents rich tables on social surveys an d a bibliography on social reporting by actor.