History Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2002
Publication Source
Continuity and Change: A Journal of Social Structure, Law and Demography in Past Societies
Abstract
The article examines the impact of the ‘rise of statistical thinking’ and statistical measurement on elite perceptions of the condition of the Russian Empire's post-emancipation peasant economy. Using archival and published sources, it argues that the increased use of statistical measurement did much to concretize in numerical (‘objective’) terms the idea of rural crisis. In particular, the combination of traditional paternalistic concerns about the sufficiency of peasant resources and the use of cadastre measurement yielded an image of the peasant household economy in which the value (the income-producing capabilities) of post-emancipation peasant allotments nearly always fell short of subsistence requirements and tax/payment obligations. Thus, because of how observers measured peasant well-being, it appeared as if peasants had been over-changed for their post-emancipation land allotments and were doomed to exist in a permanent state of crisis.
Inclusive pages
63-96
ISBN/ISSN
0268-4160
Document Version
Postprint
Copyright
Copyright © 2002, Cambridge University Press.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Volume
17
Issue
1
Peer Reviewed
yes
eCommons Citation
Darrow, David W., "Statistics and Sufficiency: Toward an Intellectual History of Russia's Rural Crisis" (2002). History Faculty Publications. 19.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/hst_fac_pub/19
Comments
Document available for download is the author's accepted manuscript, provided here in compliance with publisher policies on self-archiving. Differences may exist between this version and the published version; as such, researchers who wish to quote directly from it are advised to consult with the version of record.
Permission documentation is on file.