The Politics of Large Numbers

The Politics of Large Numbers PDF Author: Alain Desrosières
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674009691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Begins with study of history of statistics, and shows how the evolution of modern statistics has been inextricably bound up with the knowledge and power of governments.

The Politics of Large Numbers

The Politics of Large Numbers PDF Author: Alain Desrosières
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674009691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Begins with study of history of statistics, and shows how the evolution of modern statistics has been inextricably bound up with the knowledge and power of governments.

The Politics of Large Numbers

The Politics of Large Numbers PDF Author: Alain Desrosières
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Begins with study of history of statistics, and shows how the evolution of modern statistics has been inextricably bound up with the knowledge and power of governments.

The Power of Large Numbers

The Power of Large Numbers PDF Author: Joshua Cole
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801437014
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
French government officials have long been known among Europeans for the special attention they give to the state of their population. In the first half of the nineteenth century, as Paris doubled in size and twice suffered the convulsions of popular revolution, civic leaders looked with alarm at what they deemed a dangerous population explosion. After defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, however, the falling birthrate generated widespread fears of cultural and national decline. In response, legislators promoted larger families and the view that a well-regulated family life was essential for France.In this innovative work of cultural history, Joshua Cole examines the course of French thinking and policymaking on population issues from the 1780s until the outbreak of the Great War. During these decades increasingly sophisticated statistical methods for describing and analyzing such topics as fertility, family size, and longevity made new kinds of aggregate knowledge available to social scientists and government officials. Cole recounts how this information heavily influenced the outcome of debates over the scope and range of public welfare legislation. In particular, as the fear of depopulation grew, the state wielded statistical data to justify increasing intervention in family life and continued restrictions on the autonomy of women.

The Politics of Numbers

The Politics of Numbers PDF Author: William Alonso
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610440021
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 491

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Book Description
The Politics of Numbers is the first major study of the social and political forces behind the nation's statistics. In more than a dozen essays, its editors and authors look at the controversies and choices embodied in key decisions about how we count—in measuring the state of the economy, for example, or enumerating ethnic groups. They also examine the implications of an expanding system of official data collection, of new computer technology, and of the shift of information resources into the private sector. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Census Series

Trust in Numbers

Trust in Numbers PDF Author: Theodore M. Porter
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691210543
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
A foundational work on historical and social studies of quantification What accounts for the prestige of quantitative methods? The usual answer is that quantification is desirable in social investigation as a result of its successes in science. Trust in Numbers questions whether such success in the study of stars, molecules, or cells should be an attractive model for research on human societies, and examines why the natural sciences are highly quantitative in the first place. Theodore Porter argues that a better understanding of the attractions of quantification in business, government, and social research brings a fresh perspective to its role in psychology, physics, and medicine. Quantitative rigor is not inherent in science but arises from political and social pressures, and objectivity derives its impetus from cultural contexts. In a new preface, the author sheds light on the current infatuation with quantitative methods, particularly at the intersection of science and bureaucracy.

The Tyranny of Metrics

The Tyranny of Metrics PDF Author: Jerry Z. Muller
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691191263
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
How the obsession with quantifying human performance threatens business, medicine, education, government—and the quality of our lives Today, organizations of all kinds are ruled by the belief that the path to success is quantifying human performance, publicizing the results, and dividing up the rewards based on the numbers. But in our zeal to instill the evaluation process with scientific rigor, we've gone from measuring performance to fixating on measuring itself—and this tyranny of metrics now threatens the quality of our organizations and lives. In this brief, accessible, and powerful book, Jerry Muller uncovers the damage metrics are causing and shows how we can begin to fix the problem. Filled with examples from business, medicine, education, government, and other fields, the book explains why paying for measured performance doesn't work, why surgical scorecards may increase deaths, and much more. But Muller also shows that, when used as a complement to judgment based on personal experience, metrics can be beneficial, and he includes an invaluable checklist of when and how to use them. The result is an essential corrective to a harmful trend that increasingly affects us all.

Winner-Take-All Politics

Winner-Take-All Politics PDF Author: Jacob S. Hacker
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416588701
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Analyzes the growing divide between the incomes of the wealthy class and those of middle-income Americans, exonerating popular suspects to argue that the nation's political system promotes greed and under-representation.

Pocketbook Politics

Pocketbook Politics PDF Author: Meg Jacobs
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691130418
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
"How much does it cost?" We think of this question as one that preoccupies the nation's shoppers, not its statesmen. But, as Pocketbook Politics dramatically shows, the twentieth-century American polity in fact developed in response to that very consumer concern. In this groundbreaking study, Meg Jacobs demonstrates how pocketbook politics provided the engine for American political conflict throughout the twentieth century. From Woodrow Wilson to Franklin Roosevelt to Richard Nixon, national politics turned on public anger over the high cost of living. Beginning with the explosion of prices at the turn of the century, every strike, demonstration, and boycott was, in effect, a protest against rising prices and inadequate income. On one side, a reform coalition of ordinary Americans, mass retailers, and national politicians fought for laws and policies that promoted militant unionism, government price controls, and a Keynesian program of full employment. On the other, small businessmen fiercely resisted this low-price, high-wage agenda that threatened to bankrupt them. This book recaptures this dramatic struggle, beginning with the immigrant Jewish, Irish, and Italian women who flocked to Edward Filene's famous Boston bargain basement that opened in 1909 and ending with the Great Inflation of the 1970s. Pocketbook Politics offers a new interpretation of state power by integrating popular politics and elite policymaking. Unlike most social historians who focus exclusively on consumers at the grass-roots, Jacobs breaks new methodological ground by insisting on the centrality of national politics and the state in the nearly century-long fight to fulfill the American Dream of abundance.

Prisms of the People

Prisms of the People PDF Author: Hahrie Han
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022674406X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Grassroots organizing and collective action have always been fundamental to American democracy but have been burgeoning since the 2016 election, as people struggle to make their voices heard in this moment of societal upheaval. Unfortunately much of that action has not had the kind of impact participants might want, especially among movements representing the poor and marginalized who often have the most at stake when it comes to rights and equality. Yet, some instances of collective action have succeeded. What’s the difference between a movement that wins victories for its constituents, and one that fails? What are the factors that make collective action powerful? Prisms of the People addresses those questions and more. Using data from six movement organizations—including a coalition that organized a 104-day protest in Phoenix in 2010 and another that helped restore voting rights to the formerly incarcerated in Virginia—Hahrie Han, Elizabeth McKenna, and Michelle Oyakawa show that the power of successful movements most often is rooted in their ability to act as “prisms of the people,” turning participation into political power just as prisms transform white light into rainbows. Understanding the organizational design choices that shape the people, their leaders, and their strategies can help us understand how grassroots groups achieve their goals. Linking strong scholarship to a deep understanding of the needs and outlook of activists, Prisms of the People is the perfect book for our moment—for understanding what’s happening and propelling it forward.

Analysis of Health Surveys

Analysis of Health Surveys PDF Author: Edward L. Korn
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118030869
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
How to apply statistical methods to survey data--a guide toeffective analysis of health surveys. With large health surveys becoming increasingly available forpublic use, researchers with little experience in survey methodsare often faced with analyzing data from surveys to addressscientific and programmatic questions. This practical book providesstatistical techniques for use in survey analysis, making healthsurveys accessible to statisticians, biostatisticians,epidemiologists, and health researchers. The authors clearlyexplain the theory and methods of survey analysis along withreal-world applications. They draw on their work at the NationalInstitutes of Health as well as up-to-date information from acrossthe literature to present: * The sampling background necessary to understand health surveys. * The application of such techniques as t-tests, linear regression,logistic regression, and survival analysis to survey data. * The use of sample weights in survey data analysis. * Dealing with complications in variance estimation in large healthsurveys. * Applications involving cross-sectional, longitudinal, andmultiple cross-sectional surveys, and the use of surveys to performpopulation- based case-control analyses. * Guidance on the correct use of statistical methods found insoftware packages. * Extensive bibliography.