What the history of public health reveals about the power of statistical reasoning at scale

Structural Invisibility

Power structures maintain themselves through structural invisibility. The structures are: - Economic. Who owns resources? Who controls production? Who keeps the profits? - Political. Who makes decisions? Who has the power to enforce decisions? Who is excluded from decision-making? - Cultural. What narratives are told about how the world works? Whose narratives are told? Whose are silenced? - Informational. What information is publicly available? What information is hidden? Who determines what is "legitimate" knowledge? - Relational. Who has access to whom? Whose networks are visible? Whose networks are hidden? Making power visible means examining each of these dimensions and asking: How does this serve some people and harm others?

The Role of Language

Language is how power makes itself invisible. Technical language obscures. Abstract language obscures. Official language obscures. Making power visible requires demystifying language. Translating technical terms into their actual meaning. Tracing abstract language back to concrete impacts on real people. When economists talk about "labor market efficiency," what they mean is: "We can pay workers less because they have fewer options." When politicians talk about "difficult fiscal choices," what they mean is: "We are choosing to cut services that poor people need." When institutions talk about "institutional necessity," what they mean is: "We want to maintain our power." The practice of making power visible is partly a linguistic practice: translating official language into a language that reveals interests and impacts.

Visibility and Transformation

Making power visible is the first step toward transformation. But it is not sufficient. Visibility is necessary for transformation, but many things become visible without leading to change. This is why making power visible must connect to other practices: organizing, creating alternatives, building institutions that operate differently. Power that is visible can be resisted. But resistance requires sustained effort, strategic thinking, and collective commitment.

The Cost of Making Power Visible

Making power visible has costs. Those with power do not appreciate being exposed. They retaliate through: - Defamation. Attacking the credibility of those who make power visible - Institutional exclusion. Firing, evicting, or excluding people who reveal power - Threat. Threatening those who expose power - Counter-narrative. Telling stories that justify or obscure the power they hold - Co-optation. Hiring activists who might otherwise expose them, bringing them into the system The practice of making power visible is therefore risky. It requires solidarity, support networks, and commitment to something larger than individual safety.

Power and Counter-Power

Making power visible is the foundation for building counter-power: alternative structures that operate on different principles. Counter-power can take many forms: worker cooperatives, community governance, mutual aid networks, alternative media, alternative institutions. These are not just alternative to dominant power; they are foundations for different ways of organizing collectively. The visibility of dominant power and the construction of counter-power are interdependent. You need visibility to imagine alternatives. And you need alternatives to show that current arrangements are not inevitable.