Mass Observation – Observing the 80s

The Mass Observation Project began in 1981 and directives (sets of questions) were sent to correspondents up to four times a year between 1981 and 1990 (Directives summary

). Below you can find the directives as well as folders of responses from selected correspondents. Some are handwritten and some are typed and they vary considerably in length.

Professor Dorothy Sheridan has written about the Mass Observation Project in the 1980s in this papers: Description of the 1980s Mass Observation directives

1981

Directive Special Royal Wedding 1981

Responses to Special Royal Wedding 1981

Directive Summer 1981

Responses to Summer 1981

Directive Autumn 1981

Responses to Autumn 1981

1982

Directive Spring 1982

Responses to Spring 1982

Directive Falklands 1982 & Directive Falklands postscript 1982

Responses to Falklands and Falklands postscript 1982

Directive Summer 1982

Responses to Summer 1982

Directive EEC Special 1982

Responses to EEC Special 1982

Directive Autumn – Pocket Money 1982

Responses to Autumn – Pocket Money 1982

Directive Winter – Food 1982

Responses to Winter – Food 1982

1983

Directive Spring – General Election 1983

Responses to Spring – General Election 1983

Directive Summer Work – Work 1983

Responses to Summer – Work 1983

Directive Autumn – Housework 1983

Responses to Autumn – Housework 1983

Directive Winter – Xmas 1983

Responses to Winter – Xmas 1983

1984

Directive Spring – Well-being 1984

Responses to Spring – Well-being 1984

Directive Summer – Banking 1984

Responses to Summer – Banking 1984

Directive Autumn – USA 1984

Responses to Autumn – USA 1984

Directive Winter – Relatives 1984

Responses to Winter – Relatives 1984

1985

Directive Spring 1985

Responses to Spring – part 1 Morality 1985

Responses to Spring – part 2 poster 1985

1986

Directive Autumn 1986

Responses to Autumn – Events 1986

Responses to Autumn – Xmas Day 1986

1987

Directive Spring 1987

Responses to Spring – AIDS 1987

Responses to Spring – Waste 1987

Directive Summer – Holidays 1987

Responses to Summer – Holidays 1987

Directive Special General Election 1987

Responses to Special General Election 1987

Directive Autumn 1987

Responses to Autumn – Car 1987

Responses to Autumn – Weather 1987

1988

Directive Spring – Clothing 1988

Responses to Spring – Clothing 1988

Directive Summer 1988

Responses to Summer – Objects 1988

Responses to Summer – Time 1988

Directive Autumn 1988

Responses to Autumn – TV 1988

Responses to Autumn – Pastimes 1988

1989

Directive Spring 1989

Responses to Spring – Food 1989

Responses to Spring – Disasters 1989

Directive Summer 1989

Responses to Summer – Conduct 1989

Responses to Summer – EEC 1989

Directive Autumn 1989

Responses to Autumn – Drugs 1989

Responses to Autumn – Britain 1989

1990

Directive Spring 1990

Responses to Spring – Retrospective 1990

Responses to Spring – Social Divisions 1990

The responses are stored in Google Drive where you will see a list of folders, one for each correspondent. Clicking on a folder will take you to a PDF file which you can print or download. Mass Observation correspondents are anonymous – each has a unique reference number and you can more from our metadata

Special Reports

A few correspondents also sent in additional writings, known as special reports, and you can find them in a separate folder labelled Special Reports. They are collated by correspondent and you can find out about the topics they address in the metadata table.

Or you can browse by correspondent