The Science from the State: The Production of Data by the Statisticians of the French Ministry of Education, 1957–2007

Abstract

This article analyses the institutionalisation of the production of statistical data by the central administration of the French ministry of education from 1957 to 2007. It shows that beyond the necessary technical and methodological evolutions, this institutionalisation clearly depended on political arbitrations, administrative struggles and professional orientations. Using some theoretical approaches in political science, it interprets this process as the progressive and non-linear development of a specific ‘state science’. On the basis of materials collected during a four-year qualitative research study (through 32 interviews, several data sets of documents, consultation of archives, and a questionnaire), it highlights first the main cognitive and transversal properties of this specific state body of knowledge. It describes then its historical concrete forms which varied according to the policy configurations. The latter are studied through four main variables: the formal organisation of the statistical production; the statistical methods, techniques and tools implemented; the composition of the central office; and the main professional cleavages among the members of this office.