Defining What Counts, How and with Whom? 'Construction and Use of Indicators - Poverty, Wealth, Inequality, Life Satisfaction, Performance', Amiens, 23-24 May 2013

The development of a barometer of inequality and poverty, as well as the visibility of some of their dimensions, poses a number of problems that exceed the availability and sharing of existing data. More fundamentally, such work involves, as any operation of quantization, defining things that because they matter, they should be counted. The development of agreement on quantifications creates spaces for public debate with, as a central point, the definition that matters. This raises the question of social conditions of access to these debates and the conditions permitting one to express a point of view, especially for individuals with the least social capital. These issues were addressed by the papers presented at this conference and during the ensuing discussion. Adapted from the source document.