The Social Sciences of Quantification

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction. The Social Sciences of Quantification in France: An Overview

   • Isabelle Bruno, Florence Jany-Catrice, Béatrice Touchelay

   Pages 1-14

3. Sociology of Quantification: Alain Desrosières’s contributions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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   2. Introduction to the work of Alain Desrosières: the history and sociology of quantification

      • Michel Armatte

      Pages 17-31

   3. Alain Desrosières’s reflexive numbers

      • Luc Boltanski

      Pages 33-42

   4. Alain Desrosières’s spectacles: one lens realist, the other constructivist

      • Emmanuel Didier

      Pages 43-53

   5. From statistics to international quantification: a dialogue with Alain Desrosières

      • Roser Cussó

      Pages 55-65

   6. Learning from the history of the probabilistic revolution: the French school of Alain Desrosières

      • Fabrice Bardet

      Pages 67-79

4. The Statistical Argument in the Neoliberal Era

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81

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   2. Quantifying the effects of public action on the unemployed: disputes between experts and the rethinking of labour market policies in France (1980-2000)

      • Etienne Penissat

      Pages 83-95

   3. Counting the homeless in Europe: ‘compare before harmonising’

      • Cécile Brousse

      Pages 97-108

   4. The statistical backbone of the new European economic governance: the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure Scoreboard

      • Gilles Raveaud

      Pages 109-121

   5. Evaluating public policies or measuring the performance of public services?

      • Florence Jany-Catrice

      Pages 123-135

5. Uses of Quantification : Power and Resistance

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 137-137

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   2. Private accounting, statistics and national accounting in France: a unique relationship (1920-1960s)

      • Béatrice Touchelay

      Pages 139-148

   3. Figures for what purposes? The issues at stake in the struggles to define and control the uses of statistics

      • Marion Gilles

      Pages 149-160

   4. The uses of quantification: power and resistance. The example of unemployment statistics

      • Pierre Concialdi

      Pages 161-170

   5. Statistical argument: construction, uses and controversies. Prices and purchasing power

      • Alain Gély, Bernard Sujobert, Béatrice Touchelay

      Pages 171-181

   6. The quantification of the social sciences: an historical comparison

      • Alain Desrosières

      Pages 183-204

This book details how quantification can serve both as evidence and as an instrument of government, whether when dealing with statistics on employment, occupational health and economic governance, or when developing public management or target-driven policies. In the process, it presents a thought-provoking homage to Alain Desrosières, who pioneered ways to study large numbers and the politics underlying them.


It opens with a summary of Desrosières's contributions to the field in which several generations of researchers detail how this statistician and historian profoundly influenced them. This tribute, based on personal testimonies, bears witness to the vitality of the school of thought and analytical framework Desrosières initiated. Next, a collection of essays explores the statistical argument in the neoliberal era, examining issues such as counting the homeless in Europe, measuring the performance of public services, and quantifying the effects of public action on the unemployed in France.


The third part details the uses of quantification. It reveals that although statistics are frequently used to the advantage of those in power, they can also play a vital role in challenging and resisting both the conventions underlying the measurements as well as the measurements themselves.
Featuring the work of economists, historians, political scientists, sociologists, and statisticians, this title provides readers with a thoughtful look at an influential figure in the history of statistics. It also shows how statistics are used to direct public policy, the degree of conflict that is possible in their production, and the disputes that can develop around their uses.

• Interdisciplinary perspectives on statistics
• Sociology of quantification
• History of Statistics
• Alain Desrosières
• New Public Management
• Target-driven policies
• effects of public action on the unemployed
• labour market policies in France
• Evaluating public policies
• measuring the performance of public services
• Private accounting, statistics and national accounting in France

• University Lille 2, CERAPS (UMR 8026) , Lille, France

  Isabelle Bruno

• University Lille 1, CLERSE (UMR 8019) , Villeneuve d’Ascq Cedex, France

  Florence Jany-Catrice

• University Lille3, IRHIS (UMR 8529) , Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France

  Béatrice Touchelay

Dr. Isabelle Bruno has an M.A. in Sociology of International Relations (2001) and Ph.D. in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris (2006). She is an associate professor at the University Lille 2 (France), where she is a member of the Lille Centre for European Research on Administration, Politics and Society (CERAPS, CNRS/Lille 2). Her first book, entitled À vos marques, prêts… cherchez! La stratégie européenne de Lisbonne, vers un marché de la recherche, was published in 2008. With E.Didier, she recently published Benchmarking. L’État sous pression statistique (Zones/La Découverte, 2013) and they edited with T. Vitale Statactivism: Statistics and Activism in the open sociopolitical studies journal Participazione e conflitto (vol. 7, #2, 2014).

Florence Jany-Catrice is a professor of economics at the University of Lille. She is the director of La Revue Française de Socio‐économie (Découverte and Cairn). Her research mainly focuses on economy of quality, particularly in the field of the service economy; quality of labor and employment; as well as quality of output, wealth and their measures. She has published numerous articles and books, including The New Indicators of Well‐Being and Development (Palgrave McMillan) 2006, and with J. Gadrey; Les services à la personne (2009, with FX. Devetter and T. Ribault) (La Découverte). Her lastest book is entitled La performance totale: nouvel esprit du capitalisme? (2012, Presses universitaires du Septentrion). She has also directed a special issue of the Revue Française de Socio-Economie (2010), Les politiques de quantification. 

Béatrice Touchelay is professor of economic and social contemporary history at the University of Lille Nord de France (Lille 3). She is a specialist in history of public (statistics) and private data (accounting) seen as part of the "dialogue" between state and private actors. She has recently published L’Etat et l’entreprise. Une histoire de la normalization comptable et fiscal àla française, Rennes, PUR, 2011 and as articles "Éditorial. La statistique publique, des chiffres sans histoire ?", Revue Française de Socio-Économie 2/2013(n° 12), p. 5--‐14. URL : www.cairn.info/revue--‐francaise‐de‐socio‐economie-2013‐2-page‐5.htm; With Isabelle Chambost, "L’information économique des salaries et de leurs représentants, histoire d’un enjeu de société. Introduction", Economie et société, série Entreprises et finance, KF, n°3, 8/2013/p. 1219-1224.

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