From populations to pandemics, official statistics are indispensable to thinking about modern society. Alex Fenton sets out a sociological approach to analysing how these powerful numbers are produced by government agencies and their fight over them. He shows how statistics extend the capacities of the state and represent social problems. Using archives, interviews, and official publications, he presents a detailed case study of the development of poverty and income statistics in Britain and West Germany. With this, the book demonstrates the importance of historical analysis and underlines the ambivalent position of official statistics between politics, government, and science.

Alex Fenton is a research fellow at the German Centre for Higher Education and Science Research (DZHW) and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Originally from the UK, he worked at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics before moving to Germany to do his doctorate at the Leibniz University of Hannover. His research focus lies in historical and political sociology, specifically the social uses of social scientific research.