The Mutual Construction of Statistics and Society

Herausgeber: Hammer, Svein; Saetnan, Ann Rudinow; Lomell, Heidi Mork

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Statistics are often seen as simple, straightforward, and objective descriptions of society. However, what we choose to count, what we choose not to count, who does the counting, and the categories and values we choose to apply when counting, matter. This volume addresses the ways in which statistics and numbers are gathered and applied in social science research. The contributors argue that we must become more aware of the power and the limitations of statistics. Learning statistics needs to be about more than simply mastering the techniques of using the tool; it needs to also be about learning the dangers of that tool and learning to control it within social and ethical bounds. These dangers lie in the routines through which statistics are applied; the discourses from which they emerge and into which they are deployed; the power relations created by those discourses; and the assumptions, meanings, and categories statistics carry with them in those discourses. This volume will be necessary reading for students and scholars using quantitative data within the social sciences.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Routledge
• Seitenzahl: 314
• Erscheinungstermin: 20. Juli 2010
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 235mm x 157mm x 21mm
• Gewicht: 610g
• ISBN-13: 9780415873703
• ISBN-10: 0415873703
• Artikelnr.: 29921797

Autorenporträt

Ann Rudinow Sætnan is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Svein Hammer is a Post-doc in the Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Heidi Mork Lomell is Post-doctoral research fellow at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction: By the Very Act of Counting: The Mutual Construction of
Statistics and Society Ann Rudinow Sætnan, Heidi Mork Lomell and Svein
Hammer Section 1: Overarching Themes and Approaches 1. Numbers: Their
Relation to Power and Organization Jon Hovland 2. Words and Numbers: For a
Sociology of the Statistical Argument Alain Desrosières 3. Sociology in the
Making: Statistics as a Mediator Between the Social Sciences, Practice, and
the State Christopher Kullenberg 4. Governing by Indicators and Outcomes: A
Neo-Liberal Governmentality? Svein Hammer Section 2: Visibility,
Invisibility and Transparency 5. Ethnicity: Differences and Measurements
Ellen Balka and Kjetil Rodje 6. Seeing Like Citizens: Unofficial
Understandings of Official Racial Categories in a Brazilian University
Luisa Farah Schwartzman 7. Ideas in Action: 'Human Development' and
'Capability' as Intellectual Boundary Objects Asun Lera St. Clair Section
3: Accountability and Manageability 8. Labelling and Tracking the Criminal
in Mid-Nineteenth Century England and Wales: The Relationship Between
Governmental Structures and Creating Official Numbers Chris Williams
9. From Categorization to Public Policy: The Multiple Roles of Electronic
Triage Ellen Balka 10. Making Sense of Numbers: The Presentation of Crime
Statistics in the Oslo Police Annual Reports 1950-2008 Heidi Mork Lomell
11. Statistics on a Website: Governing Schools by Numbers Svein Hammer and
Sigrunn Tvedten 12. Locating the Worths of Performance Indicators:
Performing Transparencies and Accountabilities in Health Care Sonja
Jerak-Zuiderent and Roland Bal Section 4: Reporting and Acts of Resistance
13. Co-Constructing Medical Diagnosis Practice and Hospital Activity
Statistics: How Coding Practices Turn Patients into Numbers Gunnhild Tøndel
14. GIS in Practice: Domestication of Statistics in Policing Helene I.
Gundhus