Tensions of Social History: Sources, Data, Actors and Models in Global Perspective

Public debates and anxieties about illegal migrants to Europe (and the US border, between India, Bangladesh and Myanmar, etc.) focus not just on abstract considerations about the ‘others’ but also on empirical evidence: how many migrants are really coming? What is their social status on departure and their political status on arrival?
Observers inevitably compare current trends with historical ones. The same is true for debates about social inequalities on global scale, at the very core of social studies since the beginning of the millennium and peaking with Piketty’s bestseller, Capital in the 21st Century. His book’s success is closely related to the quantification in its main argument. Or consider evaluations of the social impact of global warming and environmental change: any suggestions or timetabling about the future require the measurement of multiple variables and their past trends. Attempts to put global warming into a ‘natural’ very long term have been made by economic and
political lobbies hostile to any restriction of current lifestyles and economies.