| CODE | SOC2103 | ||||||
| TITLE | Numbers and Society: Themes in Quantitative Sociology | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Sociology | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit locates numbers, quantification and enumeration as means by which society is imagined and represented. First, the study-unit looks at the historical development and contemporary workings of the enumerative modality: that is, the representation of society as a vast collection of numbers. Second, the theme of statistics as statecraft is discussed; theoretical concepts from, among others, Foucault, are used to discuss the relation between numbers, the state and power. Examples used include census in colonial India and Britain, as well as the fraught relationship between population figures and power in contemporary Pakistan and Nigeria. Third, the twin notions of the politics of numbers and the numbers of politics are discussed, using contemporary case studies that include the production and contestation of fisheries and wildlife conservation data, in Malta and elsewhere. Fourth, the study-unit introduces students to some of the basic ways in which social scientists access, assess the value of, and use statistics produced by the media, NGOs and state organizations. Study-Unit Aims: The study-unit aims to acquaint students with some of the critical perspectives on social statistics and enumeration in the social sciences generally. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - comprehend enumeration and quantification as processes that are embedded in the history of the modern state; - discern useful from not-so-useful statistics; - comprehend and think critically about the processes of production of statistics; - demonstrate an understanding of the power hierarchies of census and other state/officializing statistics. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - read, assess critically, and generally take apart social statistics; - relate to and apply social statistics and numbers generally in productive ways; - assess critically the power issues involved in the production and dissemination of numbers about society. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Joel Best, "Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling numbers from the media, politicians, and activists", University of California Press, 2012. - Joel Best, "More Damned Lies and Statistics: How numbers confuse public issues", University of California Press, 2004. - Alan Bryman, "Social Research Methods", 5 ed., Oxford University Press, 2016. - W. Lawrence Neuman, "Social Research Methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches", 7 ed., Pearson, 2009. Supplementary Readings: - Kathrin Levitan, "A cultural history of the British census: Envisioning the multitude in the nineteenth century", Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. - Bernard S. Cohn, "Colonialism and its forms of knowledge: The British in India", Princeton University Press, 1996. - Michel Foucault, "Discipline and Punish: The birth of the prison", Vintage Books, 1995. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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