Interpreting Official Statistics

Front Cover
Ruth Levitas, Will Guy
Psychology Press, 1996 - Mathematics - 214 pages
Interpreting Official Statistics examines the official statistics produced about the current state of British society. It documents some of the ways in which information has been suppressed, manipulated and misinterpreted since 1979. This invaluable guide is designed to help students know what figures are available, and to discover when and how politicians are misusing statistics.
Data sets covered include:
* Households below average income
* Administrative and survey methods of unemployment and crime
* Population census data on ethnicity
* Data sources on women and work
* Data on the relationship between class and health, and safety at work
* New data sources on disability
* Labour Force Survey.
 

Contents

INTRODUCTION
1
THE LEGACY OF RAYNER
7
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENT STATISTICS ON POVERTY
26
FIDDLING WHILE BRITAIN BURNS? The measurement of unemployment
45
SOCIAL CLASS OFFICIAL SOCIOLOGICAL AND MARXIST
66
HEALTH FOR ALL?
90
PROBLEMS IN MONITORING SAFETY IN BRITISH MANUFACTURING AT THE END OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
115
FIGURING OUT WORKING WOMEN
121
COUNTING ETHNICITY SOCIAL GROUPS AND OFFICIAL CATEGORIES
143
DISABLED BY NUMBERS
166
THE CASE OF THE MISSING CRIMES
185
INDEX
206
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