getahead
General Social Survey https://gss.norc.org
Question 197. Some people say that people get ahead by their own hard work; others say that lucky breaks or help from other people are more important. Which do you think is most important?
For further details see the official GSS documentation.
Counts by year:
| year | iap | don't know | hard work most important | hard work, luck equally important | luck most important | no answer | other | not available in this year | Total |
| 1972 | 1613 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1613 |
| 1973 | - | 7 | 973 | 355 | 150 | 2 | 17 | - | 1504 |
| 1974 | - | 9 | 902 | 423 | 127 | 4 | 19 | - | 1484 |
| 1975 | 1490 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1490 |
| 1976 | - | 11 | 931 | 357 | 197 | 3 | - | - | 1499 |
| 1977 | - | 10 | 927 | 430 | 159 | 4 | - | - | 1530 |
| 1978 | 1532 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1532 |
| 1980 | - | 11 | 927 | 409 | 118 | 3 | - | - | 1468 |
| 1982 | - | 28 | 1067 | 505 | 253 | 7 | - | - | 1860 |
| 1983 | 1599 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1599 |
| 1984 | - | 7 | 976 | 264 | 219 | 7 | - | - | 1473 |
| 1985 | - | 22 | 1003 | 286 | 220 | 3 | - | - | 1534 |
| 1986 | 1470 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1470 |
| 1987 | - | 14 | 1180 | 330 | 288 | 7 | - | - | 1819 |
| 1988 | 504 | 5 | 651 | 204 | 116 | 1 | - | - | 1481 |
| 1989 | 504 | 8 | 676 | 202 | 143 | 4 | - | - | 1537 |
| 1990 | 455 | 5 | 598 | 190 | 122 | 2 | - | - | 1372 |
| 1991 | 524 | 7 | 651 | 203 | 125 | 7 | - | - | 1517 |
| 1993 | 531 | 3 | 703 | 231 | 134 | 4 | - | - | 1606 |
| 1994 | 996 | 14 | 1375 | 386 | 213 | 8 | - | - | 2992 |
| 1996 | 981 | 20 | 1333 | 344 | 218 | 8 | - | - | 2904 |
| 1998 | 950 | 13 | 1247 | 417 | 195 | 10 | - | - | 2832 |
| 2000 | 956 | 13 | 1194 | 451 | 193 | 10 | - | - | 2817 |
| 2002 | 1841 | 5 | 578 | 248 | 92 | 1 | - | - | 2765 |
| 2004 | 1914 | 4 | 582 | 232 | 79 | 1 | - | - | 2812 |
| 2006 | 1771 | 11 | 1868 | 544 | 314 | 2 | - | - | 4510 |
| 2008 | 671 | 10 | 886 | 294 | 162 | - | - | - | 2023 |
| 2010 | 763 | 11 | 884 | 265 | 120 | 1 | - | - | 2044 |
| 2012 | 666 | 4 | 910 | 264 | 128 | 2 | - | - | 1974 |
| 2014 | 824 | 13 | 1188 | 340 | 172 | 1 | - | - | 2538 |
| 2016 | 980 | 7 | 1330 | 316 | 230 | 4 | - | - | 2867 |
| 2018 | 774 | 13 | 1127 | 239 | 193 | 2 | - | - | 2348 |
| 2021 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4032 | 4032 |
| 2022 | 2348 | 11 | 709 | 323 | 152 | 1 | - | - | 3544 |
| Total | 26657 | 296 | 27376 | 9052 | 4832 | 109 | 36 | 4032 | 72390 |
1 hard work most important
2 hard work, luck equally important
3 luck most important
4 other
NA(d) don't know
NA(i) iap
NA(j) I don't have a job
NA(m) dk, na, iap
NA(n) no answer
NA(p) not imputable
NA(q) not imputable
NA(r) refused
NA(s) skipped on web
NA(u) uncodeable
NA(x) not available in this release
NA(y) not available in this year
NA(z) see codebook