Antecedents of Censuses From Medieval to Nation States, the first of two volumes, uses historical and comparative methods to analyze how medieval population counts and land surveys, starting about one thousand years ago, were the precursors of censuses in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy. The authors show that the development of censuses depended on the interaction between states and societies. Censuses developed as early and comprehensive solutions to state administrative problems where social actors had extensive knowledge that states could use and where social actors advocated for their adoption. Changes in Censuses from Imperialist to Welfare States, the second of two volumes, uses historical and comparative methods to analyze censuses in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Italy, starting in the nineteenth century. The authors argue that censuses arose from interactions between government bureaucracies and social interests, and that censuses constituted public, official knowledge not where they were insulated from social pressures, but rather where intense social and political interaction surrounded around them.

Chris Thompson was a discussant for the panel for Aaron Panofsky’s  Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavior Genetics (2014/University of Chicago Press)

Panofsky`s book, Misbehaving Science, is about the curious case of Behavior Genetics, a scientific field characterized by persistent, intractable conflicts. Panofsky explains how these conflicts work within the field, arguing from a Bourdieusian field perspective that these conflicts are the result of broken hierarchies.