Quebec and Its Historians: The Twentieth Century

V: Ideology and Quantitative Method: the Rural World of Fernand Ouellet.

V Ideology and Quantitative Method The Rural World of Fernand Ouellet InLes Canadiens apres la conquete, 1759-1775 (Montreal: Fides, 1969), Michel Brunei attacked Fernand Ouellet's use of quantitative method in Economic and Social History of Quebec, issuing a warning to historians and readers "fascinated by the claims of quantitative history." The ebullient Montrealer observed that "too often they forget that great discoveries generally arise from the patient observation of a few dominant factors rather than the compiling of incongruous and undigested data. Columns of figures, graphs...and tables...may be a useful adjunct to a work of history, but they can never replace the historian, who must keep in mind all dimensions of collective activity" (p. 13). Brunei's book, categorized by Pierre Savard as part of the "stormy debate" surrounding the significance and consequences of the Conquest, rejected some of Ouellet's hypotheses. The criticism was possibly inopportune. Nevertheless , he maintained that some interpretations put forward in Economic and Social History were "farfetched," and that statistical reasoning "cannot replace the carefully thought out evaluation of the determining forces" shaping group destinies. Brunei reiterated his thesis thai ihe Conquesl caused ihe decline of ihe French-Canadian bourgeoisie, and lhal lo deny il would be lo opl for psychologism.In his opinion, ihe usefulness of a history of group alliludes in explainingand assessing business aclivily was doublful (p. 109, n. 9). 118 Ideology and Quantitative Method 119 Some of Brunei's footnotes read like a settling of accounts, questioning Ouellet's sincerity (p. 166, n. 4), or indulging in sarcasm: "Professor Ouellet may rest assured that no one will accuse him of partiality toward the French Canadians, since he reserves it entirely for the conquerors" (p. 171, n. 25). To the repeated accusation of treason was added that of being a "moralistic historian" (p. 209, n. 33). Ouellet's great error, Brunei felt, was lo have misconslrued ihe extent to which Canadians under ihe French regime "possessed collective freedom and autonomy," which was lost in the course of the Seven Years' War (p. 284). A more subslanlial refulalion of Ouellel's work was Maurice Seguin's La "Nation canadienne" et I'agriculture, which, as menlioned in chapler 1, appeared in 1970 althoughoriginally written during the 1940s. His attempt at economic analysis, while somewhal naive,had ihe meril of providinga moresolid ground for crilicism.In one sense, Brunei's positionwas based on purely ideological assumptions.1 Ouellet was well-advised to answer him on the grounds of melhod. To ihe accusalion of "irailor" he replied lhat Brunei's work was "tainled wilh racism," and justified his own slalislical reasoning as follows: "The quanlilalive melhod, lolally dependenl on ihe historian 's exactitude, no doubt has ils advanlages; bul il can also have ils disadvantages, especially when used to support a purely ideological approach.... Both methods (quantitative and qualilalive ) demand exaclilude and self-discipline."2 Al ihe lime, historians were moving toward a general acceplance of ihe slalislical approach lo history, wilh evenementielle or evenlorienled history gradually giving way to the economic and social history of ihe masses. Brunei wasin facl fightinga rearguard action. The historian in search of lolal history finds himself in a difficull position. He has ample qualitative malerial wilh which lo reconslrucl the progress of the dominant classes and intermediate groups. However, when it comes lo ihe diachronic analysis of the illiterale masses, lhat is, comprehending the underlying factors affecting iheir long-lerm developmenl, he musl look elsewhere for information. Synchronistic social sciences can use ihe interview as a meansof exploring ihe lives 120 Quebec and its Historians of the silent majority, otherwise coded and classified bystatistics -hungry researchers. Historians working in fields that predate the invention of sound recording do not share the advantages of present-day anthropologists and ethnologists, however. They find themselvesup against an apparently inert mass, and are only too glad to uncover the rare expository work written from a rural or working-class viewpoint. Statistical analysis, therefore, offers one of the few available methods of understanding the lives of the majority of human beings. Such information has not passed through the prism of interpretation by the governing classes, but is based on indicative records—a source in which our "quantophrenic" mentality generally places a high degree of reliance.3 The problem with Ouellet's use of serial, quantitative methods was his profuse accompaniment of psycho-ethical discussion , particularly his moral portrait...