The art of counting

Deborah Stone, a political scientist and author at Brandeis University, dives into the intricate world of counting. She explores the pivotal questions of who counts, why, and what they are counting. Stone discusses the complexities of COVID statistics and how varying practices influence public perception. She also highlights the implications of racial categorization in the U.S. census, showing how numbers shape societal views, especially in mixed-race families. The episode emphasizes the subjective nature of data and its profound real-world consequences.