Entre police et démographie - article ; n°1 ; vol.133, pg 72-78

Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales - Année 2000 - Volume 133 - Numéro 1 - Pages 72-78Between police and demography From the study of an unpublished Projet de dénombrement dénombrement Census proposal dating from the early days of the First Empire one sees how at the start of the 19th century a population census can still be seen as an essential instrument of surveillance for the State Analysis of this manuscript reveals how the emerging statistical tools could be placed at the service of the police Locating and identifying individuals would be based on assigning each citizen a written, fixed and objective identity on the basis of censuses. Every person would be given a personal identification number according to where they lived. By imposing written certificates of identity on the entire population, the author of the manuscript wanted to make the identity of every individual immediately readable and decipherable. This text illustrates the linkage between a science of population which was gaining autonomy, and policing know-how. It shows the difficulty with which the science of the State freed itself from its origins in policing and taxation.7 pagesSource : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.