Statactivism and Critical Community Psychology: using statistical activism to resist injustice in the NHS and Higher Education

Statactivism has been articulated as a militant use of figures whereby previous representations of reality can be challenged and contested. A major aim of those who use statactivism is to subvert problematic models of social accountability. This chapter focuses on two such projects carried out in recent years. The Brighton Citizens’ Health Services Survey (BCHSS) was developed to explore and potentially challenge how knowledge is used and by whom in the production of local health commissioning institutions and relations. The National Senior Management Survey was a survey to move the gaze from the narrow metrics of Higher Education (HE) staff performance to the senior management teams who set the conditions through which staff performance becomes possible via a national league table of senior management teams. This chapter provides an account of the projects, considers the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of using statactivism in the content of challenging public sector marketisation, and considers the range of controversies that arose as a result of the projects. It explores the way that research straddling the boundary between academic inquiry and political activism speaks to the many issues that are prevalent in the changing HE and Health sectors.