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“Lies, Damned Lies and State-istics”: Counting “Real Inhabitants” in the Census (Belgium, 1846–1947)

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on the premises underlying one of the main instruments that states have used to “embrace” their populations, viz. the modern population census. In many nation-states, statisticians opt for the household in its résidence habituelle or “habitual place of residence” as the census’ basic unit of observation. By analyzing the residential categories in the Belgian census, this chapter seeks to illuminate governmental and societal expectations regarding membership and belonging. Its focus is on the period between the first Belgian population census (1846) and the tenth, which was taken shortly after the Second World War (1947), a time frame within which de jure specifications of residence and resident populations have come to define the state-istical representations of the nation-state.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, e.g., Courtney (1895).

  2. 2.

    Hentsch (2000, 484).

  3. 3.

    Igo (2007, 6); see also Jasanoff (2004).

  4. 4.

    Igo (2007, 261–262).

  5. 5.

    Igo (2007, 282).

  6. 6.

    See also Starr (1987), Patriarca (1996), Poovey (1998), Scott (1998), and Curtis (2002).

  7. 7.

    Wargon (2000, 327); see also Hacking (1982), Porter (1986), and Stamhuis (1989).

  8. 8.

    Hacking (1982, 280).

  9. 9.

    Anderson (1983); see also Desrosières (1998).

  10. 10.

    Desrosières (2000, 42); see also Meyer et al. (1997).

  11. 11.

    Donnelly (1998); see also Scott (1998), Curtis (2002), and Foucault (2007).

  12. 12.

    Headrick (2000, 76).

  13. 13.

    Louckx and Vanderstraeten (2015); see also Anderson (1988).

  14. 14.

    Louckx and Vanderstraeten (2014), Louckx (2017a, b), and Vanderstraeten and Louckx (2018).

  15. 15.

    Hacking (1982).

  16. 16.

    See, e.g., Curtis (2002, 20–21); see also Brian (1989, 2002), Randeraad (2011), Bracke (2008, 131–167), Desrosières (2008, 7–59), and Prévost and Beaud (2012, 49–62).

  17. 17.

    See Desrosières (2008, 41–45); see also Hawgood (1964). I use the term “state-istics” to denote population statistics in its relation to both the Queteletian idea of a social body as a field of scientific observation and the reification of this social body through the exercise of state-power. In consequence, the social body is also a field of governmental intervention.

  18. 18.

    I refer to the census reports by the letter B followed by the year the census. I refer to the reports of the sessions of the International Statistical Congress by the letters CIS followed by the year of the session. For the sessions of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, I use the letters BCR followed by the year of the session. Until 1920, the Belgian census reports were only published in French, which was the dominant language of administration during that time period. The enumeration sheets were sent out in French, Flemish, or German, depending on the language most spoken in the municipality (see, e.g., B 1846, X). All the English translations are my own. The italics in the original text passages were maintained.

  19. 19.

    For example, Proudhon (1798, 95–96), Sirey (1808, 453–454), and Sirey (1809, 7).

  20. 20.

    BCR, Session of 25 January 1847, 583. A few years after the first Belgian census, the application of the de facto principle was also promulgated at the first International Statistical Congress in 1853: “the population censuses should be nominal and based on the principle of the de facto population.” However, it was at the same time stated that “special information may be requested to establish, depending on the circumstances, the de jure population” (CIS 1853, 107).

  21. 21.

    BCR, Session of 25 January 1847, 583.

  22. 22.

    B 1846, L–LII.

  23. 23.

    B 1846, L, see also CIS 1872B, 440.

  24. 24.

    BCR, Session of 25 January 1847, 583.

  25. 25.

    “A law of June 2, 1856 contains the following related provisions: A general population census is carried out, every ten years, in all municipalities in the kingdom. It will be the basis for the distribution of the members of the Legislative Chambers (whose number must, according to the Constitution, be proportional to the size of the population). There are population registers in every municipality. These records are corrected and completed according to the results of the census” (CIS 1872B, 431; B 1856, VIII). The same law also authorized the municipal administrations to charge individuals who did not respond on time or refused to give the requested information. On ‘offenders’, a fine could be imposed “of which the amount could raise to 100 francs.” However, the instructions “invited agents only to invoke this criminal clause after having exhausted all means of persuasion” (CIS 1872B, 433; B 1856, VII).

  26. 26.

    B 1856, VII; BCR, Session of 15 April 1856, 1164–1165; see also Bracke (2008).

  27. 27.

    B 1856, XXXVIII–XXXIX, XLI–XLII.

  28. 28.

    B 1856, XLVIII, LVI, LXXII.

  29. 29.

    B 1866, XLV; see also CIS 1872B, 440.

  30. 30.

    Against this background, the instructions to the census-takers time and again reiterated the point that each individual could only be member of one household at any given time (B 1866, VII–VIII, XI–XII, XXXVI, XLII).

  31. 31.

    B 1866, XXXIX; see also CIS 1872B, 434.

  32. 32.

    B 1866, XLIV–XLV; see also CIS 1872B, 436.

  33. 33.

    For example, B 1880, IX; B 1900, LXXXII; B 1920, 18–21; B 1930, 4; B 1947, 108–113. Following a recommendation made during the 8th session of the International Statistical Congress in 1872, the Belgian statistical authorities started to conduct censuses in years ending on a 0. Therefore, the fourth Belgian census, which was originally scheduled for 1876, ended up taking place in 1880 (see also Quetelet 1873, 121). It also became the first census of the post-Quetelet era (Quetelet died in 1874).

  34. 34.

    For example, B 1856, LXXII; B 1880, CVI, CVIII; B 1900, LXXXIX; B 1930, 27; B 1947, 50.

  35. 35.

    CIS 1867, 54.

  36. 36.

    See, e.g., B 1900, XC; B 1947, 64.

  37. 37.

    B 1890, CXXXV.

  38. 38.

    See Weber (1978).

  39. 39.

    Alternatively, it is common in legal discussions to describe the habitual residence as a situation of fact. The habitual residence is “a factual notion and needs no connection with any given law system” (de Winter 1969, 428). At the International Statistical Congress, the connection between statistics and ‘fact-gathering’ was stressed on many occasions: “The goal [of statistics] is […] to record the facts, either for the administration or for the public” (CIS 1853, 32); “statistics is not a science of conjectures and assumptions, but a science of facts” (CIS 1853, 103).

  40. 40.

    In addition, for individuals with more than one habitual residence, the statisticians argued that the legal domicile had to be recorded as the habitual residence (see B 1866, LXXXVII; B 1890, CXVII). From the 1900 census onwards, the term “domicile” was replaced in this context by “principal residence” or “principal home” (see B 1900, CXLVI; B 1910, 3; B 1930, 7, 27; B 1947, 50). People who had neither habitual residence nor domicile had to be counted as members of the de facto population (see B 1890, CLXXVIII).

  41. 41.

    For example, de Winter (1969) and Krebs (2011).

  42. 42.

    B 1866, LXXV, LXXXIII–LXXXIV.

  43. 43.

    B 1900, CXLIV; B 1910, 95; B 1920, 8; B 1930, 5, 27; B 1947, 50.

  44. 44.

    For example, B 1846, LI; B 1866, XXXIX; B 1880, X; B 1890, LXX; B 1900, CXLV; B 1910, 2, 28; B 1930, 5; B 1947, 50.

  45. 45.

    For example, B 1856, XXXVIII, LXXXII; B 1866, VIII, LXXXII; B 1890, CXXXI; B 1900, CXLIII; B 1910, 48; B 1920, 10; B 1930, 6; B 1947, 50.

  46. 46.

    For a detailed socio-historical analysis of the representation of the household in the Belgian state-istics, see Louckx and Vanderstraeten (2015).

  47. 47.

    For example, B 1866, XLI, LXXXII; B 1890, CXXXIII; B 1900, V; B 1910, 28; B 1930, 7; B 1947, 51.

  48. 48.

    Warnier and De Vos (2010).

  49. 49.

    B 1846, L; B 1856, LXXII.

  50. 50.

    B 1866, XL; B 1880, X, XI.

  51. 51.

    B 1890, IV, LXX, CXVII.

  52. 52.

    B 1890, CXVII, CXLI.

  53. 53.

    B 1900, XC.

  54. 54.

    B 1900, IV; see also B 1910, 3; B 1930, 6. It was, at that time, frequently contended that the possibility of purchasing exemptions by obtaining substitutes (cf. supra) placed the burden of the conscription system on the poor (see Warnier and De Vos 2010). Significantly, however, the statisticians defined the time spent by substitutes in military service as a “voluntary choice”.

  55. 55.

    For example, B 1856, LXXII; B 1866, XLI; B 1880, XLIII–XLIV, CIX; B 1890, CXXXIV; B 1900, LXXXIX–XC.

  56. 56.

    See, e.g., B 1856, LXXII. In the 1900 census, the statisticians argued that it would be “illogical” to treat a hospital as a habitual place of residence, because hospitalization was “by nature” a temporary event. Following the same reasoning, hospital stays had to be compared with hotel stays. B 1900, V, LXXXIV, XCI; see also B 1910, 3, 36; B 1930, 7; B 1947, 50.

  57. 57.

    B 1866, XLI, LXXXII.

  58. 58.

    For example, B 1890, LXX, CXXXIII; B 1900, LXXXIII; B 1910, 28; B 1947, 50, 99.

  59. 59.

    For a detailed sociological study of “total institutions” and processes of “institutionalization”, see Goffman (1961).

  60. 60.

    B 1900, XC, CXLV; B 1910, 28, 36; B 1947, 84.

  61. 61.

    B 1900, XC.

  62. 62.

    For example, B 1900, XCI, CXXXVIII; B 1910, 36. As mentioned before, as of 1900, conscripted soldiers who had no family household could also be registered as habitually residing in their military barracks (see B 1900, XCV).

  63. 63.

    See also Tihon (1976) and Vanderstraeten (2014).

  64. 64.

    B 1846, LXVI.

  65. 65.

    B 1856, LXXIX.

  66. 66.

    For example, B 1866, LXX; B 1880, X, CXXXV; B 1890, LXX, CXVII, CXXXIII.

  67. 67.

    B 1880, X; B 1900, XXIV; B 1910, 3, 28; B 1930, 6–7; B 1947, 50.

  68. 68.

    B 1890, CXVII.

  69. 69.

    See Weber (1946, 452; 1978, 37).

  70. 70.

    B 1866, X; see also B 1880, CVIII; B 1890, LXXI; B 1910, 33; B 1930, 5, 27.

  71. 71.

    B 1866, XLV vs. B 1890, LXX; B 1900, V, LXXXIII, LXXXV; B 1910, 3; B 1930, 10; B 1947, 52.

  72. 72.

    See, e.g., B 1900, LXXXIII; B 1910, 3; B 1930, 8.

  73. 73.

    B 1890, CLXXVIII.

  74. 74.

    B 1890, CXVIII; B 1900, CXLV–CXLVI; B 1910, 36.

  75. 75.

    B 1900, CXXXVIII; B 1910, 89. Related to this, it was specified that some buildings, which were fixed on the ground, could not serve as habitual places of residence because individuals were not allowed to live there. For the 1900 census, the examples provided in the census report included administrative buildings, post or telegraph offices, churches, museums, factories, mills, workshops, railway stations, and so on. Exceptions were possible if parts of these buildings were designed and constructed for dwelling purposes, i.e. for janitors or wardens, but only on condition that these inhabitants had no other habitual place of residence. See, e.g., B 1900, CXLII; B 1947, 69.

  76. 76.

    B 1920, 8.

  77. 77.

    B 1947, 51–52.

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Acknowledgements

This paper benefited significantly from the input and support provided by many. I would like to thank the organizing committee of the research project, “Science, Numbers and Politics”, and the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities for providing funding for the project. I want to thank the participants of the two project-workshops in Heidelberg for sharing their time, thoughts and expertise with me. I thank Ida Stamhuis and Wolfgang Drechsler in particular for their oral and written feedback on my paper. And last but not least, I would like to give special thanks to the organizers and moderators of the book’s section on “Historical Genesis”, Kelly L. Grotke and Stephen Hastings-King. They provided invaluable insights and served as a sounding board for the work presented in this paper—challenging me to make it better through their thoughtful feedback, discussions, and additional background information. The paper has benefited greatly from their guidance!

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  1. Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Kaat Louckx

  2. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Kaat Louckx

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    Markus J. Prutsch

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Louckx, K. (2019). “Lies, Damned Lies and State-istics”: Counting “Real Inhabitants” in the Census (Belgium, 1846–1947). In: Prutsch, M. (eds) Science, Numbers and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11208-0_3

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