The genesis of victimization surveys and of the realist-constructionist divide

Matthieu de Castelbajac (2017) Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. 53(4), pp. 332-346 Abstract. The invention of victimization surveys is often presented as a synthesis of the two theoretical attitudes that, supposedly, dominated the 1960s debate over official crime statistics: realism and social constructionism. This paper turns this genesis story on its head. Using original archives, I argue that victimization surveys responded to organizational opportunities in the field of..