Classification as Lens
“Classifications serve as a lens through which to view the data they classify.”
This framing from the NAICS manual is worth sitting with. A classification isn’t a neutral container, it’s an interpretive frame that shapes what questions can be asked and what patterns become visible.
The same set of businesses looks different through a supply-side lens (production processes) versus a demand-side lens (markets served). Neither is more “true.” They’re different perspectives that reveal different relationships.
This has practical implications: when you inherit a classification system, you inherit its perspective. Data collected under one classification scheme may not answer questions framed by another, even if the underlying entities are the same.
The honest move is to be explicit about what lens you’re using and what it obscures. There’s no view from nowhere.