Counting the dead and regulating the living: early modern statistics and the formation of the sociological imagination (1662-1897).

Full Abstract

This paper examines the contributions made by early modern statistical literature to the formation of the sociological imagination. Starting in the mid-seventeenth century, the fields of 'political arithmetic' and vital and moral statistics provided a discursive framework within which it became possible to identify and study aggregate dynamics and structures underlying seemingly random and episodic aspects of life (birth, death, divorce, health). Focusing primarily on developments in England, the paper identifies three significant watershed moments in the emergence of the sociological imagination: the discovery of the political and economic dimensions of life; the articulation of socio-statistical patterns underlying various life events and episodes; and the establishment of causal connections between social variables and individual choices. These developments did not amount to or directly result in the creation of the discipline of sociology, yet, they made it possible to make conceptual connections between the personal and the social.

Author information

Author/s: Bayatrizi, Zohreh (Z);

Affiliation: Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. zohreh_bayatrizi(-atsign-)yahoo.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Historical Article; Journal Article

Journal: The British journal of sociology (Br J Sociol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 60 (issue 3) : pp 603-21

Dates: Created 2009/08/25; Completed 2009/11/02;

PMID: 19703179, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/2/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.