Subjects
Statistics, Public Debate and the State, 1800–1945:
A Social, Political and Intellectual History of Numbers
Jean-Guy Prévost and Jean Pierre Beaud
Studies for the International Society for Cultural History
978 1 84893 296 8: 234x156mm: £60.00/$99.00
978 1 84893 297 5
Based around a number of illustrative case studies, this book charts the development of our modern day reliance on statistics. Topics covered include scientific innovations, administrative issues and the use of numbers in politics. By looking at these aspects of statistics together, the authors are able to present a truly original work – one that provides an international perspective on the rhetoric of numbers.
Readership
Social and Political History, History of Science, Statistics, Nineteenth-Century Studies and the History of Ideas
Contents
Introduction
1 Percentages and the Emergence of Statistical Objectivity
2 The Republic of Numbers: Robert Gourlay and the Art of the Statistical Account
3 Adolphe Quetelet and the Expanded Reproduction of ‘Statistism’
4 Form as Content: The Establishment of National Statistical Systems
5 Immigration and Population Growth: An American Statistical Controversy
6 The Epitaph of Imperial Statistics
7 Statistical Expertise and the Twilight of Liberal Italy
8 Politics of the Sampling Revolution
Reviews
'Beaud and Prévost’s study combines technical statistical expertise with engaging and accessible historical narrative. Their path-breaking work bridges disciplinary divides as it offers new insight into the power of numbers.'
– Bruce Curtis, Carleton University