In this paper, I focus explicitly on quantification processes as processes of institutionalization. Drawing the ultimate consequences from a metaphor that underpins much of the research in the history of accounting and statistics , this makes possible to go beyond the usual considerations on the conventional nature of the resulting quantitative representations. I claim for the need to reflect on the nature of these processes rather than on their outcomes, focusing on the mechanisms at work, on the role of individual agents in shaping their direction, and on their historical, unpredictable nature. The ethnographic study of quantitative practices inside of organizations (ethnostatistics) may be of help for an historical understanding of the constitutive effects that informal assumptions and practical choices exert once blackboxed. On the other hand, a focus on long term final users and on the political reinterpretation of statistical data is possible only where an historical institutional perspective is supplemented to a pure ethnographic approach. Three cases in the history of Italian statistics are presented as paradigmatic of the research outcomes such an approach can yield.

Hybridising Institutional and Ethnographic Approaches to the History of Statistics in Italy.

FAVERO, Giovanni
2016-01-01

Abstract

In this paper, I focus explicitly on quantification processes as processes of institutionalization. Drawing the ultimate consequences from a metaphor that underpins much of the research in the history of accounting and statistics , this makes possible to go beyond the usual considerations on the conventional nature of the resulting quantitative representations. I claim for the need to reflect on the nature of these processes rather than on their outcomes, focusing on the mechanisms at work, on the role of individual agents in shaping their direction, and on their historical, unpredictable nature. The ethnographic study of quantitative practices inside of organizations (ethnostatistics) may be of help for an historical understanding of the constitutive effects that informal assumptions and practical choices exert once blackboxed. On the other hand, a focus on long term final users and on the political reinterpretation of statistical data is possible only where an historical institutional perspective is supplemented to a pure ethnographic approach. Three cases in the history of Italian statistics are presented as paradigmatic of the research outcomes such an approach can yield.
2016
Innovare nella storia economica: temi, metodi, fonti.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Favero SISE 2014 _ estratto.pdf

accesso aperto

Descrizione: Estratto del saggio di FAVERO nel volume SISE
Tipologia: Documento in Post-print
Licenza: Accesso gratuito (solo visione)
Dimensione 886.53 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
886.53 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in ARCA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10278/3672849
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact