The nation‐state in its state‐istics (Belgium, 1846–1947)

Abstract

Statistics are, as the etymology of the term suggests (state-istics), intimately connected with the construction or administration of the nation-state. This paper addresses the genesis and development of the nation-state by studying one of the main instruments that states use to 'embrace' their populations, viz. population statistics. More particularly, the paper presents a critical analysis of the conceptual and 'scientific' representations of modes of belonging to the nation-state as produced in the Belgian (Queteletian) population censuses from the mid-nineteenth until the mid-twentieth century. It is shown how the analyses of the statisticians' interests, techniques and classification schemes shed light on the various ways in which inclusion in, or exclusion from, the Belgian nation-state have been articulated in its population censuses. It is argued that these shifting interests and classification schemes also inform us about the construction and administration of the contemporary nation-state.

"Hoort Belgen groot en klein": nationale identificatie in het West-Vlaamse volkslied (19de-20ste eeuw)

“…68 Hoewel de statistieken van de talentellingen de neiging hadden om het aandeel Franstaligen in Nederlandstalig gebied te overdrijven, blijven ze illustratief voor deze toenemende verfransing. 69 Zo zal het aandeel tweetaligen in geheel West-Vlaanderen tot aan de laatste telling (1947) beduidend toenemen. Aangezien de talentellingen niet opgedeeld zijn naargelang sociale klasse, is het moeilijk om het taalgebruik bij de lagere sociale strata in te schatten.…”

Sociology in Great Little Belgium

“…Using statistics, he hoped to develop a unitary scientific methodology applicable to all forms of measurable phenomena, natural and social. He not only hoped to formulate the laws of society in ways which would be comparable to the laws of physics, but also to improve social politics and reform the "social body" (or "corps social") on the basis of scientific evidence (Louckx 2017(Louckx , 2019Louckx and Vanderstraeten 2014).…”

Who Had Faith in Sociology? Scholarly and Ideological Divergences in Belgium around 1900

“…Although some empirical research was supported in the School, one mainly built on the “monographic” method of family-budget studies as developed by the French Catholic social scientist Frédéric Le Play. In the spirit of Le Play, the “monographs” or case studies of the living conditions of family households had to provide for moral exemplars for Catholic families (Heilbron 2015, 56–57; see also Louckx 2017). In this spirit, it was also argued that social policy had to be based on moral exemplars or religious ideals (e.g., Brants 1906).…”