This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G. Phd, Mphil, Dclinpsychol) at the University of Edinburgh

This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Sociology and Statistics in Britain, 1830-1990 Plamena Yankova Panayotova A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2018 2 Declaration I hereby confirm that this doctoral thesis has been written entirely by myself, is solely the product of my own work unless otherwise specified, and has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Signed: Plamena Yankova Panayotova Dated: 17th July 2018 3 4 Acknowledgements My interest in the history of sociology and statistics in Britain began when I was still an undergraduate student; at a time when I had more curiosity to find out about these subjects than actual experience in studying them. Back then, I had been studying sociology for three years but knew little about its development in this country. I had some statistical training but mainly through my studies in psychology. And although I have improved my statistical skills since then, I would still not describe myself as a statistician. I’m not a historian, either – I began reading history of science as a hobby during my undergraduate days and this is how I first came across some of the major works on the history of statistics which gave me the inspiration to delve deeper. My studies really began with my childish knack of questioning everything and demanding answers; but it was stamina, devotion and systematic investigation and a deep desire to emulate the scholarship of those inspirational figures around me that were key in carrying this project through to its end. Now, on its completion, I would like to thank all those people and institutions who have supported me during my research and helped me turn my scattered thoughts into a detailed scholarly work. I would firstly like to thank the Sociology department here in Edinburgh who have created a warm and hospitable academic environment that has allowed me to thrive in the last eight years. In particular, I would like to thank Dr Stephen Kemp, Professor John MacInnes, Professor Lindsay Paterson, Professor Donald MacKenzie and Professor Vernon Gayle for their valuable advice, encouragement and belief in my abilities. From them, I’ve learnt that coming up with the ‘right’ questions is a vital prerequisite to searching for and finding the ‘right’ answers. Every piece of academic work, even fact-based and austere doctoral theses, have a story to tell. In the last few years, I have benefited greatly from numerous opportunities to learn how to tell the story of sociology and statistics in Britain in an absorbing and entertaining way and I would like to thank the Sociology department and Q-step for providing me with opportunities to test my communication skills by inviting me to speak at the New Directions conferences and the Q-step seminars. 5 Most of this work is based on detailed archival research which would not have been possible without the help and guidance I received from the following institutions: the Special Collections Unit at Edinburgh University’s Main Library; the National Library of Scotland; Glasgow University’s Main Library; the library at the London School of Economics and Political Science and their archival collections; the library at Keele University and their archival collection on the Sociological Society and The Sociological Review; and the Clara Thomas archives and Special Collections at York University, Toronto. I have also benefited immensely from consulting Professor Jennifer Platt’s personal archival collection which gave me access to material I could not have found anywhere else. Doing doctoral research is, inevitably, a largely solitary experience that in my case involved many hours of book-hunting, note-taking and imaginary conversations with people long deceased whose deeds and ideas shaped the history I was studying. Thanks to those people, who are too numerous to mention, I woke up on many occasions in a different time, a different year, another century. But doctoral study has its social side as well – none of what I’ve discovered would matter if I did not have people to share it with. In this respect, further thanks must go to those distinguished Edinburgh University scholars already mentioned above but also to some great scholars from universities further afield such as Professor John Goldthorpe, Dr Christopher Husbands, Professor Peter Mandler and Professor Martin Bulmer for the attention they have all paid me over the last year; for their reading of parts of my writing and for their invaluable suggestions on how to improve it. None of them, of course, bear any responsibility for the errors and omissions in this work. In addition to the documentary research, I conducted interviews with a dozen of the most renowned sociologists and statisticians in the country and I would like to thank all my interviewees for their generosity with their time and for breathing life into this history. I’m especially grateful to my supervisor and esteemed colleague, Professor John MacInnes. This work would not have been possible without his unwavering support throughout the years and the many long-hour discussions we have had on 6 sociology, statistics and the history of science. He has taught me the statistical Lebensgefühl better than anyone else could have done. My good friend, Ron Wilson, has read and edited the manuscripts of all articles I have written in the last three years and the full manuscript of this thesis – I can’t thank him enough for his patience and persistence with this work and his invaluable editorial suggestions. We spent many hours over the years discussing my progress on this study and he has always been a meticulous sounding board. He taught me as best he could (or at least attempted to teach me, as I’m not an easy student) the art of clear and concise writing; whenever in doubt, I would rather read him instead of Plain Words. But I owe him much more than that: it was he who first inspired my interest in history and the history of science in particular; who taught me the craft of bookbinding and who built me a time-machine for intellectual travel and exploration out of antiquarian and second-hand books. I hope this work will make him proud. To my friend Nikos Kourampas, for lighting up with a smile this and every other piece of work I have done in the last few years – thank you for many hours of listening and for making this PhD a joyful experience. My mum and dad would not be able to read this work as it stands, as English is not their native language. I will be forever indebted to them for their great efforts to raise me as an honest, responsible, hard-working, and open-minded young woman and for all the sacrifices they have made, and are making, for the sake of my education. They have given me all the love parents could possibly give. And they have always believed in my dreams as if they were their own, in spite of the fact that the pursuit of those dreams took me away to a foreign country on the other side of the continent. To my beloved partner, Ivan, I’m immensely grateful for keeping me warm and bringing the sun to this bookish, but cold country. It is your love that makes all my efforts worthwhile. Edinburgh, July 2018 7 8 Abstract This thesis examines the historical relationship between British sociology and statistics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It begins with an analysis of the role that the early development of statistics played in the history of social science, followed by an examination of other nineteenth century, non-quantitative, projects of social enquiry that were to have an influence on the later development of British sociology. The thesis then continues with an analysis of the contributions of the Sociological Society to the development of sociology in Britain and its role in sociology’s relationship with statistics. The last and most detailed part of the thesis is devoted to an examination of the trends in the development of academic sociology in Britain in the twentieth century. It analyses the major factors that had significant influence on the possible incorporation of quantitative methods, and a statistical and probabilistic worldview more generally, into British sociology. Most of the study is based on original archival research and uncovers previously unexamined aspects of events, movements and choices that have defined the character of British sociology since its academic beginnings. The argument is that the relationship between sociology and statistics in Britain has been characterised by a remarkable continuity and been subject to very little change over many years; that it has been distinguished by a negative obsession with statistics on the part of British sociologists who have made consistent efforts to try to prove statistics unsuitable for sociological research and excuse themselves from using them.

Load more