ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines a number of specific episodes that how the intellectual and political changes occurred. It covers a period that defines as going from the creations of the first bureaus that dedicates to the collection and processing of statistical information to the considerable extension of the information-gathering capacities that came with the advent of probabilistic sampling methods and the establishment of national accounting. The book deals with the intellectual, social and political history of statistics, over the last two or three decades, a burgeoning field of research. Contributions comes from students of various disciplinary origins such as historians and philosophers of science, economists, sociologists, political scientists and professional statisticians and they covers the issues as diverse as classification systems of occupations or ethnic origins.
