Concepts, Definitions, and Classifications: Some Ethical Issues in Demographic Research and Policy

Mary G. Powers, Fordham University

As demographers have been concerned with expanding the uses of statistics, less attention have been paid to the misuses of statistics. An overview of such misuses has led to more systematic analyses of how the misuse of existing population data systems have harmed a variety of vulnerable populations. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the ethical implications of the conceptualization and organization of demographic and related social statistics on poverty, gender equity and minority status in the United States. The ethical issues implicit in some of the persistent statistical shortcomings refer to a single society and its goals and purposes. This provides an opportunity to note positive developments and changes as well as shortcomings. As political and ethical considerations often interact, another goal of this paper is to assist in the process of disentangling these two sets of factors.