TY - BOOK ID - 84625 TI - Trust in numbers: the pursuit of objectivity in science and public life PY - 1995 SN - 0691037760 0691029083 9786612752179 1282752170 1400821614 9781400821617 1400813034 9781400813032 9780691037769 9780691029085 PB - Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press DB - UniCat KW - Methodology of economics KW - Science KW - Objectivity. KW - Sciences KW - Objectivité KW - Social aspects. KW - Aspect social KW - Objectivity KW - -sciences sociales KW - mathematiques KW - statistique KW - theories economiques KW - secteur public KW - Natural science KW - Science of science KW - Knowledge, Theory of KW - Reality KW - Personal equation KW - Social aspects KW - sociale wetenschappen KW - wiskunde KW - statistiek KW - economische theorieen KW - openbare sector KW - Objectivité KW - Science -- Social aspects. KW - sciences sociales KW - Science and society KW - Sociology of science KW - Science. KW - objektivitet KW - presisjon KW - nøyaktighet KW - tallbegrepet KW - filosofi KW - samfunn KW - samfunnsvitenskap KW - kvantifisering KW - vitenskap KW - sosiale KW - aspekter KW - kvantiative KW - metoder KW - kvantitative KW - Monograph KW - Science - Social aspects. KW - SCIENCE KW - SOCIAL ASPECTS KW - OBJECTIVITY KW - Objectivite UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:84625 AB - This investigation of the overwhelming appeal of quantification in the modern world discusses the development of cultural meanings of objectivity over two centuries. How are we to account for the current prestige and power of quantitative methods? The usual answer is that quantification is seen as desirable in social and economic investigation as a result of its successes in the study of nature. Theodore Porter is not content with this. Why should the kind of success achieved in the study of stars, molecules, or cells be an attractive model for research on human societies? he asks. And, indeed, how should we understand the pervasiveness of quantification in the sciences of nature? In his view, we should look in the reverse direction: comprehending the attractions of quantification in business, government, and social research will teach us something new about its role in psychology, physics, and medicine. Drawing on a wide range of examples from the laboratory and from the worlds of accounting, insurance, cost-benefit analysis, and civil engineering, Porter shows that it is "exactly wrong" to interpret the drive for quantitative rigor as inherent somehow in the activity of science except where political and social pressures force compromise. Instead, quantification grows from attempts to develop a strategy of impersonality in response to pressures from outside. Objectivity derives its impetus from cultural contexts, quantification becoming most important where elites are weak, where private negotiation is suspect, and where trust is in short supply. ER -