Trust in Numbers : : The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life / / Theodore M. Porter.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Archive 1927-1999
• VerfasserIn: Porter, Theodore M.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2020]; ©1995
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (344 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface to the New Edition -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- INTRODUCTION. Cultures of Objectivity -- Part I .POWER IN NUMBERS -- CHAPTER ONE. A World of Artifice -- CHAPTER TWO. How Social Numbers Are Made Valid -- CHAPTER THREE. Economic Measurement and the Values of Science -- CHAPTER FOUR. The Political Philosophy of Quantification -- PART II. TECHNOLOGIES OF TRUST -- CHAPTER FIVE. Experts against Objectivity: Accountants and Actuaries -- CHAPTER SIX. French State Engineers and the Ambiguities of Technocracy -- CHAPTER SEVEN. U.S. Army Engineers and the Rise of Cost-Benefit Analysis -- PART III. POLITICAL AND SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITIES -- CHAPTER EIGHT. Objectivity and the Politics of Disciplines -- CHAPTER NINE. Is Science Made by Communities? -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index