Download full text
(573.9Kb)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-468702
Exports for your reference manager
Quantification and objectivity: from statistical conventions to social conventions
Quantifizierung und Objektivität: von statistischen Konventionen zu sozialen Konventionen
[journal article]
Abstract Standard quantification processes and most often their analysis are derived from statistics' technique and approach. Social conventions are at the core of daily life, practical knowledge and coordination between people; statistical conventions are at the heart of cognitive activities developed by st... view more
Standard quantification processes and most often their analysis are derived from statistics' technique and approach. Social conventions are at the core of daily life, practical knowledge and coordination between people; statistical conventions are at the heart of cognitive activities developed by statisticians. What does quantification mean when addressed from the wider point of view of social conventions? This article analyzes the differences between social and statistical conventions. It enlarges the concept of objectivity in having recourse to the lenses of the plurality of worlds as defined by the economics of convention (EC), and to the concept of the informational basis of judgement in justice introduced by Amartya Sen. A wider conception of quantification processes in the social world can thus be elaborated, which opens fresh views on what become, in these processes, the concepts of facts and democracy. (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
justice; quantification; objectivity; democracy; statistics; standardization (meth.); convention; Sen, A.
Classification
Methods and Techniques of Data Collection and Data Analysis, Statistical Methods, Computer Methods
General Sociology, Basic Research, General Concepts and History of Sociology, Sociological Theories
Document language
English
Publication Year
2016
Page/Pages
p. 118-134
Journal
Historical Social Research, 41 (2016) 2
Issue topic
Conventions and quantification - transdisciplinary perspectives on statistics and classifications
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.41.2016.2.118-134
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed