Statistics and Its Discontents

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Statistics is one of the most important tools for conducting and communicating the results of virtually all areas of disciplinary inquiry today. From scientific research, public policy, and business management, the history of statistics is the history of how one area of mathematics has come to be seen as providing the common language for making arguments, correctly reasoning, and objectively describing the world. Yet, at the same time, statistics has often come under criticism for its misrepresentation of reality, its ability to easily spread false or misleading information, and its tendency to marginalize or objectify vulnerable populations. From disputes over climate change, election results, and subatomic particle detection, the more widespread statistics has become in different domains of inquiry today the more it has found itself embroil within controversies. This course will introduce students to some of the many controversies that have emerged over the course of statistics’ development throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century, offering a broad overview of the history of statistics in the West over the past 200 years. A central theme for this subject will be the complex dynamic between claims that statistics represent facts about the world while at the same time being the product of competing social, political, racial, and cultural interests. No prior knowledge of statistics is required; however, students will be encouraged to reflect on the ways that the field of their major or chosen profession (physics, biology, law, or economics) has been shaped by statistics. By the end of this course students will be able to better appreciate the different criticisms of statistics within their social and political contexts as well as to articulate how statistics has shaped modern conceptions of objectivity and standards of reasoning in different fields.