Title:	Changes in Censuses from Imperialist to Welfare States
Authors:	Rebecca Jean Emigh , Dylan Riley , and Patricia Ahmed
Keywords:	Census Methodology
Issue Date:	2016
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Description:	How do states and societies shape censuses? In the United States, it is common knowledge that censuses entail politics. Most censuses have been surrounded by political controversies over redistricting, privacy, sampling, and undercounting (e.g., Anderson and Fienberg 2000b:783; Choldin 1994:1, 5; Spencer 2010:A8). These debates cre- ate dismay among scientists and political commentators about the politicization of the census and calls for the renewed autonomy of the scientists at the US Census Bureau (Choldin 1994:3–4, 11–12, 237–238). While there is no doubt that the census intersects with these visible political battles, there is a surprising consensus, from virtually oppo- site ends of the political spectrum, that the census also stems from the nefarious, but largely invisible, power of the bureaucratic state. For example, the debates over the 2010 US census suggested that right- wing Republicans in the US House of Representatives believed that the state controls society through the census. Some of them strongly criticized the 2010 census, claiming that its questions (other than the question about the number of people in the household specifically needed for legislative apportionment) invaded individuals’ privacy, making it easier for the government to fine households or to abuse its power (Dinan 2009:n.p.; Editorial 2010:20P; Hooper 2010:4; Spencer 2010:A8; Weiner 2009; cf. Dinan 2012:n.p.). Perhaps even more astonishing is that most academics—who generally tend toward the left on political and social issues—would agree with the overall thrust, even if not the details or politics, of right-wing Republicans’ argument that the state gains extensive knowledge through censuses that makes it easier to maintain power over society. The highly influential work of Foucault (1979:27) on “power-knowledge relations” implies that censuses are instruments of state control, shaping individuals’ thoughts and actions, whether they realize it or not (e.g., Kertzer and Arel 2002:5–7). A benign variant of this view comes from the US Census Bureau (2010a:1) itself, which suggests that the census “affects our lives in ways we don’t often realize.” Its brochure reminds readers, that in addition to redistricting, the census is used to plan schools, roads, the production of commodities, and hospitals (US Census Bureau 2010a:1). These views represent variants of a “state-centered” perspective implying that states, not societies, influence censuses. In turn, these censuses affect society. Thus, the state-centered perspective suggests that states influence societies through censuses.
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/54099
ISBN:	978–1–137–48506–9
Appears in Collections:	Population Studies

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