The Quest for Numeracy

The Quest for Numeracy: Data and Methods in American Political History Since World War II, some American historians have used quantitative evidence in their research with an enthusiasm and rigor that was unequaled in the historical discipline among the members of previous generations of scholars in this country. The tendency became apparent among economic and political historians during the mid-1950s. Within a decade, a different kind of social history had emerged as well. Inspired in large measure by the work of social scientists, the proponents of these new histories attempted both to expand the breadth of their approach and to deepen analysis of the economic, political, and social phenomena of the American past. Most American historians of the I930s and I940s acknowledged multicausality in explaining events in history and provided shopping lists of causal factors in their writing. Over the past three decades, historians have emerged who try to measure (albeit tentatively) the specific contribution of particular variables to outcomes under study, emphasizing the use of quantitative methods.1 The quantifiers of the post-World War II generation did, however, have forerunners who were active in the field of American history between I89o and 1940. Currently, most accept Jensen's view that the dominant influence in emphasizing the importance of analyzing quantitative data during those fifty years stemmed from the research, teaching, and students of Frederick Jackson Turner, whose fruitful career at the University of Wisconsin and Harvard University spanned the years I885-I924.2

Literacy · Numeracy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Census and Population Estimation · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · History · Law

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  Open Access•Philip J Ethington•Studies in American Political…•1993

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• The Revival of Quantification

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