New Deal, New Details: Statistical Governance and the 1940 Census

Statistical information fuels modern states. How did statistics become so integral to modern forms of governance? This study examines the development of the United States' 1940 Decennial Census questionnaire, which introduced questions about housing, income, and unemployment. It was also the first census to use probability sampling. Despite its importance, the 1940 census has attracted little scholarly attention. This thesis connects the census to the governmentality literature by engaging in a case study of "statistical governance." Through an analysis of academic and congressional discourses about the census, I propose that New Deal statistical governance involves, 1) the development of statistical methodology and the professionalization of statistics, 2) a dramatic increase in data collection, including geographic and population information, and 3) questions about the propriety and legality of such data collection. I argue that studies of statistical governance are critical to understand emerging forms of social control and governmentality associated with new kinds of information collection.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Kansas

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Myers, Alexander J.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Staples, William G.

• census
• governmentality
• history of statistics
• US government

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

https://www.proquest.com/LegacyDocView/DISSNUM/10184587

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kuscholarworks.ku.edu:1808/37615