Radical
Statistics
PROPOSAL
What is Radical Statistics?
The following statement of Radstats Aims and E-mail Policy for new members is proposed for adoption by the 2001 Annual General Meeting. We are publishing it so that members have ample time to consider the text before next February.
Proposers: Dave Gordon, Ludi Simpson, Danny Dorling (Troika Member), Jay Ginn (Troika member), Helen Anderson (Treasurer), Christina Pantazis and Mary Shaw (co-editors of the Newsletter).
The members of Radical Statistics believe that statistics can be used as part of radical campaigns for progressive social change. We have always seen our role as supporting a range of campaigning organisations rather than as an academic or professional organisation.
Most of us hold that the needs of the community can never be fully met by a system based on the pursuit of profit. Rational, democratic and progressive planning is needed to tackle the injustices of poverty, inequality and discrimination, and to help the least powerful groups realise their full potential. Meaningful statistics are needed for this and we aim to demystify and critique official statistics. The purpose of Radical Statistics is not only to describe the world but also to change it.
Our activities
Radical Statistics was formed in January 1975 and is proud to have been a part of the radical science movement. We hold an Annual Conference during the last weekend in February and occasional conferences on single issues. Most of our activities are focused on producing publications, which are often used by campaigning groups, journalists, politicians and others. These have included books, pamphlets, broadsheets and articles in political and topical journals and our newsletter, Radical Statistics, which contains substantial articles and appears three times a year.
Statistics should be used to identify social problems and inform planning to remedy them. Many of these ideas were expressed in Demystifying Social Statistics (1979), which highlighted the socially constructed and contested nature of statistics. In 1999, we published Statistics in Society: The arithmetic of politics to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. Its 47 articles include some of our most influential work. In 2000, we published Tackling Inequality: Where are we now and what can be done? , which highlights the growing divide between the rich and the poor and proposes solutions which would reverse this trend.
Often, our work has reached a wider audience anonymously. For example, an influential Channel 4 documentary, Cooking the Books, which prompted much-needed changes in government statistics by showing ten examples of misleading use of statistics by the Conservative government. Most of these examples came from the Radical Statistics Health Group's book Facing the Figures: What is really happening to the National Health Service and from other Radical Statistics material.
Many of our activities stem from subject-based working groups. Some, notably those on health and education, have had a long existence. Groups of members have supported campaigns on issues such as Nicaragua, nuclear hazards, race and the Poll Tax, often assisting with surveys for pressure groups. Regional and local sub-groups have also campaigned on issues as diverse as food safety, community planning, economic statistics and women's rights. Recently, the Radical Statistics Health Group produced Official Health Statistics: An unofficial guide. This is a new and expanded edition of the Unofficial Guide to Official Health Statistics, originally published in 1980. Further details of all these publications and on how to join Radical Statistics can be found on our web site at http://www.radstats.org.uk
Radstats e-mail discussion list policy
The purpose of the e-mail list is to stimulate open, lively and wide-ranging debate on issues of concern to listmembers. We hope that contributions will be polite, addressing issues and ideas rather than commenting on individuals and will bear in mind JANET mailbase policy, that material 'likely to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety' is unacceptable. In particular, Radical Statistics is actively opposed to discrimination in all its forms. We believe that the licence of one to make discriminatory assertions restricts the freedom of others. Therefore emails including racist, sexist, anti-semitic or homophobic material are unacceptable and anyone who persists in posting such e-mails to the list may be removed from it.
