La Mesure de l'Etat, recherches sur la division sociale du travail : statistique aux Dix-huitième et Dix-neuvième siècles
Institution:
Paris, EHESSDisciplines:
Directors:
Abstract EN:
Teh consistency of large numbers is granted to be understood as a social fact. Three case studies are proposed as contributions to the genesis of such a symbolic form. 1) the renewal of mathematical analysis at the paris academy of sciences (1775-1789)is studied in connection with the production of new administrative and fiscal tools. This has been crucial in the formulation of an analytical theory of the calculus of probabilities. 2)a study of the academic prize of statistics, in the same institution but between 1817 and 1831, shows a neglected episode of the history of statistics and the on going of conceptions coming from the prerevolutionary time period. 3) a study of the international congress of statistics (1853-1876) shows the relevance of international exchanges in the routinization of administrative statistics. A general interpretation is built on those three analysis and focusses on two major social processes linked together. The first appears as a change in the social division of the production of symbolic tools between sciences and administration (1775-1825). The second is the autonomization of administrative statistics which culminates at the end of the 19th century. Bibliographies and sources are commented for the following topics: history of statistics and probabilities; studies on condorcet; statistics during the restauration; international congress of statistics.
Abstract FR:
La consistance des grands nombres est ici consideree comme un fait social: trois etudes de cas tentent d'eclairer la genese d'une telle forme symbolique. 1) le renouvellement de l'analyse mathematique a l'academie royale des sciences (1775-1789) est mis en relation avec l'elaboration de nouveaux instruments administratifs et fiscaux. C'est un element determinant de la maturation d'une theorie analytique du calcul des probabilites. 2)l'etude du prix de statistique de l'academie des sciences (entre 1817 et 1831) illustre un episode meconnu de l'histoire des activites statistiques et montre comment perdurent les conceptions elaborees a la veille de la revolution. 3) celle du congres international de statistique (1853-1876) met au jour l'importance des echanges internationaux en cette matiere. L'interpretation generale consiste a identifier l'enchainement de deux processus: la transformation de la division sociale du travail de production d'instruments symboliques entre sciences et administration (1775-1825), puis l'autonomisation de la statistique administrative (elle culmine a la fin du xixe siecle). On discute notamment la bibliographie et les sources concernant l'histoire des statistiques et des probabilites, les travaux sur condorcet, les productions statistiques sous la restauration, et le congres international de statistique.