National indifference, statistics and the constructivist paradigm
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20077703 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Morgane Labbé (0000-0001-7876-5001, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Pages | 161-179 |
| Publication date | 2019-02-14 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | National Indifference and the History of Nationalism in Modern Europe (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.4324/9781315145402-9 |
| OpenAlex | W2915569552 |
| ISBN | 9781315145402 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 1 |
This chapter challenges the centrality of statistical bureaucracies for constructivist theories when interpreting the construction of nationhood. Labbé examines a small population in the east of Poland that identified themselves in their census forms as Tutejsi, literally meaning ‘from here’. Statisticians complained about this local identification but failed to classify these people in a national category. Because sociologists and anthropologists supported the inclusion of a Tutejsi category in the census, the power of statisticians was compromised. Labbé’s analysis shows that census-taking was not merely a top-down exercise. It was a mediated practice consisting of interactions between various actors who had their own strategies. The case of the Tutejsi highlights the importance of national indifference when the state attempted to categorize ordinary people
Bureaucracy · Categorization · Census · Centrality · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Population · Social science · Sociology · Statistics · Census and Population Estimation · Central European Literary Studies · Demography · Law · Mathematics · Polish Historical and Cultural Studies
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |