How Our Days Became Numbered Risk and the Rise of the Statistical Individual |
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| Author:
| Bouk, Dan |
| ISBN: | 978-0-226-25917-8 |
| Publication Date: | May 2015 |
| Publisher: | University of Chicago Press
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| Book Format: | Hardback |
| List Price: | AUD $96.00 |
Book Description:
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Long before the dawning of the age of "Big Data” or the rise of today’s "self-quantifiers,” American capitalism invented "risk” and proceeded to number our days. Life insurers led the way, developing numerical practices for measuring individuals and groups, predicting their fates, and intervening in their futures. This book tells a story of corporate culture remaking American culture--a story of intellectuals and professionals in and around insurers who...
More DescriptionLong before the dawning of the age of "Big Data” or the rise of today’s "self-quantifiers,” American capitalism invented "risk” and proceeded to number our days. Life insurers led the way, developing numerical practices for measuring individuals and groups, predicting their fates, and intervening in their futures. This book tells a story of corporate culture remaking American culture--a story of intellectuals and professionals in and around insurers who reimagined Americans’ lives through numbers and taught ordinary Americans to do the same. Dan Bouk reveals how, in a little over half a century, the groundwork had been laid for the much quantified, risk-infused world that we struggle to understand today.