Creating the Social Question: Imagining Society in Statistics and Political Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Denmark

Histoire Sociale

Volumn 35, Issue 70, 2002, Pages 393-422

  Løkke, Anne ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN   (Denmark)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DENMARK; ETHNOLOGY; HISTORY; HUMAN; INFANT; INFANT MORTALITY; INFORMATION PROCESSING; NEWBORN; POLICY; PUBLIC HEALTH; REVIEW; SOCIAL PROBLEM; SOCIAL STATUS; STATISTICS;

DATA COLLECTION; DENMARK; HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; HUMANS; INFANT; INFANT MORTALITY; INFANT, NEWBORN; PUBLIC HEALTH; PUBLIC POLICY; SOCIAL CONDITIONS; SOCIAL PROBLEMS; STATISTICS; STATISTICS AS TOPIC;

EID: 0344924830     PISSN: 00182257     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (93)

1. Harald Westergaard, Den œdre Nationaløkonomis Opfattelse af det sociale Spørgsmaal (Copenhagen: Schultz, 1896), p. 129.
2. Jacques Donzelot, La police des familles (Paris: Minuit, 1977); David J. Rothman, Conscience and Convenience: The Asylum and its Alternatives in Progressive America (New York: Harper Collins, 1980).
3. Jacques Donzelot, La police des familles (Paris: Minuit, 1977); David J. Rothman, Conscience and Convenience: The Asylum and its Alternatives in Progressive America (New York: Harper Collins, 1980).
4. Karin Johannisson, Medicinens öga: sjukdom, medicin och samhäälle: historiska erfarenheter (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1990); Marika Hedin, "I deet allmännes tjänst: Vetenskapen och socialpolitikken", in Marika Hedin and Ulf Larsson, eds. Teknikens landskab. En teknikhistorisk antologi tilägned Svante Lindquist (Lund: Atlantis, 1998), pp. 159-178; Carl-Axel Gemzell, Om Politikens förvetenskapligande och vetenskapens politisering. Kring välfärdsstatens uppkomst i England (Copenhagen: Stougaard Jensen, 1993).
5. Karin Johannisson, Medicinens öga: sjukdom, medicin och samhäälle: historiska erfarenheter (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1990); Marika Hedin, "I deet allmännes tjänst: Vetenskapen och socialpolitikken", in Marika Hedin and Ulf Larsson, eds. Teknikens landskab. En teknikhistorisk antologi tilägned Svante Lindquist (Lund: Atlantis, 1998), pp. 159-178; Carl-Axel Gemzell, Om Politikens förvetenskapligande och vetenskapens politisering. Kring välfärdsstatens uppkomst i England (Copenhagen: Stougaard Jensen, 1993).
6. Karin Johannisson, Medicinens öga: sjukdom, medicin och samhäälle: historiska erfarenheter (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1990); Marika Hedin, "I deet allmännes tjänst: Vetenskapen och socialpolitikken", in Marika Hedin and Ulf Larsson, eds. Teknikens landskab. En teknikhistorisk antologi tilägned Svante Lindquist (Lund: Atlantis, 1998), pp. 159-178; Carl-Axel Gemzell, Om Politikens förvetenskapligande och vetenskapens politisering. Kring välfärdsstatens uppkomst i England (Copenhagen: Stougaard Jensen, 1993).
7. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London and New York: Verso, 1983; 1990), p. 15.
8. Pierre Bourdieu, In Other Words: Essays Towards a Reflexive Sociology (Oxford: Polity Press, 1990), p. 9.
9. Ibid., p. 25.
10. Ordbog over del Danske Sprog (published by Del Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab, Copenhagen, Gyldendal, 1993).
11. Salmonsens Konversationsleksikan, Chr. Blangstrap, ed. (Copenhagen, 1915-1928).
12. Betœnkning afgiven af den iføtlge kgl. Resolution af 20de September 1875 til Undersøgelsen af Arbejderforholdense i Danmark nedsatte Kommission (Copenhagen: Schultz, 1878), p. 7.
13. Harald Westergaard, Den œldre Nationaløkonomis Opfattelse af det social Spørgsmaal (Copenhagen: Schultz, 1896), pp. 2-4.
14. Ibid., p. 21.
15. Ibid., pp. 4, 5, 9, 10.
16. Ibid., p. 15.
17. Ibid., pp. 16, 19, 22, 23, 135.
18. Calling what Westergaard is examining "a genealogy" is of course inspired by Foucault. Michel Foucault, "Nietsche, Genealogy, History", in Donald F. Bouchard, ed., Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews (New York: Cornell University Press, 1977).
19. Westergaard, Den œldre Nationaløkonomis, p. 13.
20. Ibid., p. 116.
21. Ibid., p. 52.
22. Ibid., pp. 48-51.
23. Ibid., pp. 56-57.
24. I b i d.
25. Ibid., p. 57.
26. Ibid., p. 31.
27. Ibid., p. 12.
28. Ibid., p. 55.
29. Oplysninger om Arbeidernes oekonomiske Vilkaar i Kongeriget Danmark i Aaret 1872, published by Indenrigsministeriet (Copenhagen: Schultz, 1874), p. i.
30. Lorens Rerup, Danmarks Historie. Tiden 1864-1914 (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1989), p. 111.
31. Oplysninger.
32. Oplysninger, pp. x1 ff.
33. Many towns in Denmark were so small that farm work was not excluded for town inhabitants.
34. The Danish censuses were published in Danish with French translation of the main categories. Befolkningsforhold, Statislisk Tabelvœrk 5. rk. Litra A, no 5, (Copenhagen, 1905), pp. 158-175.
35. Befolkningsforholdene, pp. 158-175.
36. Oplysninger, p. II.
37. Ibid., questionnaire A.
38. Ibid., questionnaire C.
39. Will. Scharling, "Den danske Arbejderstands økonomiske Vilkaar", in Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrifl, vol. 4 (1874), pp. 218-252, 321-353.
40. Oplysninger, p. xxviii.
41. Oplysninger om Fabrik- og Haandvœrks-Arbejdernes Fortjeneste i Odense, meddelte af Arbejderne selv, collected and published by the Danske Arbejderforening, Odense, May 1873; Skematiske Oplysninger om Fabrik- og Haandvœrks-Arbejdernes Fortjeneste i Odense. Med en Skrivelse til Odense Byroad fra D'Hrr. Fr. Krebs og Fr. Christophersen, Odense, October 1873.
42. Oplysninger om Fabrik- og Haandvœrks-Arbejdernes Fortjeneste i Odense, meddelte af Arbejderne selv, collected and published by the Danske Arbejderforening, Odense, May 1873; Skematiske Oplysninger om Fabrik- og Haandvœrks-Arbejdernes Fortjeneste i Odense. Med en Skrivelse til Odense Byroad fra D'Hrr. Fr. Krebs og Fr. Christophersen, Odense, October 1873.
43. Scharling, "Den danske Arbejderstands økonomiske Vilkaar", pp. 218-252, 321-353.
44. Ibid., p. 222.
45. Ibid., pp. 241-247.
46. Ibid., pp. 342-353.
47. Fr. Krebs, "Arbejderspørgsmålet. Et Foredrag holdt i patriotisk Selskabs Møde 21de Dcbr. 1874 i Odense", Nationaløikonomisk Tidsskrift, vol. 5 (1875), pp. 81-99; review of Lujo Brentano, Das Arbeitverhäliniss gemäss den heurigen Recht, in Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, vol. 8 (1877), pp. 443-459.
48. Fr. Krebs, "Arbejderspørgsmålet. Et Foredrag holdt i patriotisk Selskabs Møde 21de Dcbr. 1874 i Odense", Nationaløikonomisk Tidsskrift, vol. 5 (1875), pp. 81-99; review of Lujo Brentano, Das Arbeitverhäliniss gemäss den heurigen Recht, in Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, vol. 8 (1877), pp. 443-459.
49. Th. Sørensen, Et Bidrag til Belysning af Kjøbstadsarbeidernes Vilkaar (Copenhagen: Reitzel, 1880).
50. Ibid., pp. 65-68.
51. Th. Sørensen, Markarbejdernes Vilkaar i Jyske Hedeamter (Copenhagen: Reitzel, 1881).
52. Th. Sørensen, Statistik over Ulykkelilfœlde under Arbejde (Copenhagen: Reitzel, 1882).
53. The most important among them was the method of calculating the expected number of deaths. For the history of this method and the role Westergaard played in its development, see Niels Keiding, "The Method of Expected Number of Deaths", International Statistical Review, vol. 55, no. 1 (1987), pp. 1-20.
54. Th. Sørensen, Børnedødeligheden i forskjellige Samfundslag i Danmark (Copenhagen: Reitzel, 1883), p. 10.
55. Erik Strange Petersen, "Th. Sørensen (1 839-1914). En bibliografi", in Th. Sørensen, Social-statistiske Undersøgelser, vol. 1 (Copenhagen: Selskabet for udgivelse af kilder til dansk historie, 1984), pp. 53-62.
56. Erik Strange Petersen, "Th. Sørensen (1839-1914). En biografi", in Sørensen, Social-statistiske Undersøgelser, vol. 1, pp. 7-52.
57. "Kjøbstadsarbejdernes Vikaar", Nalionaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, vol. 16 (1880), pp.372-377. The review is signed "A. P."
58. The Højre (Conservative) government was in a minority in the Folketing (Lower House), but denied the power of government to the Venstre (the freeholder farmers' liberal) majority; Venstre in return declined to pass the budget. Højre answered by putting a curb on every bill sent from the Lower House to the Landsting (the House of Lords), where Højre held the majority. This situation lasted from 1881 to 1894, but the three first social laws were passed. Lorenz Rerup, Danmarks Historie, vol. 6 (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1989), p. 195.
59. Marcus Rubin, Nogle Erindringer (Copenhagen, 1914), pp. 70, 150-153.
60. This section is based on a major study, the results of which are published in detail in Anne Løkke, Døden i barndommen. Spœdbørnsdødelighed og moderniseringsprocesser i Danmark 1800-1920 (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1998). Portions of it are translated and available in English: Anne Løkke, "No Difference Without a Cause: Infant Mortality Rates as a World View Generator", Scandinavian Journal of History, vol. 20 (1995), pp. 75-96; "Infancy and Old Age as Causes of Death", in Ning de Coninck Smith and Signe Mellemgaard, eds., Childhood and Old Age: Equals or Opposites (Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag, 1999), pp. 55-73; "Infant Mortality in Nineteenth Century Denmark; Regionality, Feeding Habits, Illegitimacy and Causes of Death", Hygieja, vol. 3 (2002) [online journal], http://www.liu.se/tema/inhph/journal/default.htm.
61. This section is based on a major study, the results of which are published in detail in Anne Løkke, Døden i barndommen. Spœdbørnsdødelighed og moderniseringsprocesser i Danmark 1800-1920 (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1998). Portions of it are translated and available in English: Anne Løkke, "No Difference Without a Cause: Infant Mortality Rates as a World View Generator", Scandinavian Journal of History, vol. 20 (1995), pp. 75-96; "Infancy and Old Age as Causes of Death", in Ning de Coninck Smith and Signe Mellemgaard, eds., Childhood and Old Age: Equals or Opposites (Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag, 1999), pp. 55-73; "Infant Mortality in Nineteenth Century Denmark; Regionality, Feeding Habits, Illegitimacy and Causes of Death", Hygieja, vol. 3 (2002) [online journal], http://www.liu.se/tema/inhph/journal/default.htm.
62. This section is based on a major study, the results of which are published in detail in Anne Løkke, Døden i barndommen. Spœdbørnsdødelighed og moderniseringsprocesser i Danmark 1800-1920 (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1998). Portions of it are translated and available in English: Anne Løkke, "No Difference Without a Cause: Infant Mortality Rates as a World View Generator", Scandinavian Journal of History, vol. 20 (1995), pp. 75-96; "Infancy and Old Age as Causes of Death", in Ning de Coninck Smith and Signe Mellemgaard, eds., Childhood and Old Age: Equals or Opposites (Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag, 1999), pp. 55-73; "Infant Mortality in Nineteenth Century Denmark; Regionality, Feeding Habits, Illegitimacy and Causes of Death", Hygieja, vol. 3 (2002) [online journal], http://www.liu.se/tema/inhph/journal/default.htm.
63. This section is based on a major study, the results of which are published in detail in Anne Løkke, Døden i barndommen. Spœdbørnsdødelighed og moderniseringsprocesser i Danmark 1800-1920 (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1998). Portions of it are translated and available in English: Anne Løkke, "No Difference Without a Cause: Infant Mortality Rates as a World View Generator", Scandinavian Journal of History, vol. 20 (1995), pp. 75-96; "Infancy and Old Age as Causes of Death", in Ning de Coninck Smith and Signe Mellemgaard, eds., Childhood and Old Age: Equals or Opposites (Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag, 1999), pp. 55-73; "Infant Mortality in Nineteenth Century Denmark; Regionality, Feeding Habits, Illegitimacy and Causes of Death", Hygieja, vol. 3 (2002) [online journal], http://www.liu.se/tema/inhph/journal/default.htm.
64. Deborah Dwork, War is Good for Babies (London, 1987); Gena Weiner, De räddede Barnen (Linköping, 1995); Sigrid Stöckel, "Die Bekämpfung der Säuglingssterblichkeit im Spannungsfeld von Sozialer Hygiene und Eugenik am Beispiel Berlins" (Inaugural-Dissertation, Der Freien Universität Berlin, 1992); Richard A. Meckel, Save the Babies: American Public Health Reform and the Prevention of Infant Mortality (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990); Lara Marks, Metropolitan Maternity: Maternal and Infant Welfare Services in Early Twentieth Century London (Amsterdam and Atlanta, 1996).
65. Deborah Dwork, War is Good for Babies (London, 1987); Gena Weiner, De räddede Barnen (Linköping, 1995); Sigrid Stöckel, "Die Bekämpfung der Säuglingssterblichkeit im Spannungsfeld von Sozialer Hygiene und Eugenik am Beispiel Berlins" (Inaugural-Dissertation, Der Freien Universität Berlin, 1992); Richard A. Meckel, Save the Babies: American Public Health Reform and the Prevention of Infant Mortality (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990); Lara Marks, Metropolitan Maternity: Maternal and Infant Welfare Services in Early Twentieth Century London (Amsterdam and Atlanta, 1996).
66. Deborah Dwork, War is Good for Babies (London, 1987); Gena Weiner, De räddede Barnen (Linköping, 1995); Sigrid Stöckel, "Die Bekämpfung der Säuglingssterblichkeit im Spannungsfeld von Sozialer Hygiene und Eugenik am Beispiel Berlins" (Inaugural-Dissertation, Der Freien Universität Berlin, 1992); Richard A. Meckel, Save the Babies: American Public Health Reform and the Prevention of Infant Mortality (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990); Lara Marks, Metropolitan Maternity: Maternal and Infant Welfare Services in Early Twentieth Century London (Amsterdam and Atlanta, 1996).
67. Deborah Dwork, War is Good for Babies (London, 1987); Gena Weiner, De räddede Barnen (Linköping, 1995); Sigrid Stöckel, "Die Bekämpfung der Säuglingssterblichkeit im Spannungsfeld von Sozialer Hygiene und Eugenik am Beispiel Berlins" (Inaugural-Dissertation, Der Freien Universität Berlin, 1992); Richard A. Meckel, Save the Babies: American Public Health Reform and the Prevention of Infant Mortality (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990); Lara Marks, Metropolitan Maternity: Maternal and Infant Welfare Services in Early Twentieth Century London (Amsterdam and Atlanta, 1996).
68. Deborah Dwork, War is Good for Babies (London, 1987); Gena Weiner, De räddede Barnen (Linköping, 1995); Sigrid Stöckel, "Die Bekämpfung der Säuglingssterblichkeit im Spannungsfeld von Sozialer Hygiene und Eugenik am Beispiel Berlins" (Inaugural-Dissertation, Der Freien Universität Berlin, 1992); Richard A. Meckel, Save the Babies: American Public Health Reform and the Prevention of Infant Mortality (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990); Lara Marks, Metropolitan Maternity: Maternal and Infant Welfare Services in Early Twentieth Century London (Amsterdam and Atlanta, 1996).
69. The infant mortality rate (IMR) usually refers to the number of deaths before the first birthday per 100 or per 1,000 live births. The child mortality rate refers to the number of deaths during the first five years of life given the number of live births.
70. Anders Brändström, De kärlekslöse mödrama, Spädbörnsdödeligheden i Sverige under 1800-tallet med särskild hänsyn till Nedertornea (Umeå, 1984), pp. 10, 39 ff.
71. Introduction to Statistisk Tabelvœrk, ældste række, vol. 6 (1842), p. xxii.
72. Stalistisk Tabelvœerk, vol. 10 (1846), p. xxi.
73. Johan Christian Lange, Børnevennen (Copenhagen, 1773).
74. Iceland was part of the realms of the Danish king. No other parts of his countries had an infant mortality rate exceeding 25 per cent. For infant mortality in Iceland, see G. Olaf, Saving the Child (Umeå, 2002).
75. Beretning fra den Hygiejniske Kongres i Kjøbenhavn 1858 (Copenhagen, 1858).
76. Ibid, p. 141.
77. The debates and struggles that precede the 1888 law include lobbying from an association of venerable gentlemen, who would no longer accept the pity and criminality of the illegitimate offspring of their less venerable contemporaries, and lobbying from the Premium Society for Foster Mothers, whose patroness was the Crown Princess. Anne Løkke, "Præmierede Plejemødre", Den Jyske Historiker, vol. 67 (1994), pp. 38-60.
78. N. J. Bentsen, "Dødeligheden i det første Leveår i Danmark", Ugesskrift for Lœger, 3. rk. vol. 7 (1869), pp. 113-119.
79. P. A. Schleisner, "Orienterende Bemærkninger angaaende Sundhedsvilkaarene og Dødelighedsforholdene i Kjøbenhavn", Ugeskriftfor Lœger, 3. rk. 2 vol. 3 (1877), p. 105.
80. Dansk Biografisk Leksikon (1943), s.v. Harald Westergaard.
81. Harald Westergaard, Die Lehre von der Mortalität und Morbidität (Jena, 1882), p. 192.
82. For a discussion of Westergaard's variables, see Løkke, Døden i Barndommen, pp. 88-92.
83. Harald Westergaard, Die Lehre von der Mortalität (1901), p. 403.
84. The use of the concept of responsiveness is inspired by Herbert G. Blumer, "Fashion", International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (New York: Macmillan, 1968), pp. 342-345.
85. E. P. Thompson, "The Moral Economy of the Crowd", Past and Present, vol. 50 (1971).
86. Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990), p. 21.
87. Theodore M. Porter, The Rise of Statistical Thinking, 1820-1900 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986), p. 18.
88. Charles Tilly, Coercion, Capital and European State, AD 990-1992 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), pp. 67-126.
89. Laurids Bruun, Officiel Statistisk (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1895); Porter, The Rise of Statistical Thinking.
90. Laurids Bruun, Officiel Statistisk (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1895); Porter, The Rise of Statistical Thinking.
91. Bruun, Officiel Statistisk, p. 143.
92. Harold Westergaard, "Statistikkens Fremtid. Afskedsforelæsning den 28. maj 1924", Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift (1924), p. 342.
93. For a case in which unreliable statistics based on changing categorization provided arguments for social legislation, see Anne Løkke, Vildfarende Børn. Om forsømte og kriminelle børn mellem filantropi og stat 1880-1920 (Copenhagen: Socpol, 1990).