Seeing Like a State

How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

by
No cover

Seeing Like a State (2008, Yale University Press)

464 pages

English language

Published July 27, 2008 by Yale University Press.

ISBN:
9780300128789

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4 stars (1 review)

Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed is a book by James C. Scott critical of a system of beliefs he calls high modernism, that centers on confidence in the ability to design and operate society in accordance with scientific laws. It was released in March 1998, with a paperback version in February 1999. The book catalogues schemes which states impose upon populaces that are convenient for the state since they make societies "legible" but are not necessarily good for the people; census data, standardized weights and measures, and uniform languages make it easier to tax and control the population.

9 editions

reviewed Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott

legibility, high modernism, metis

4 stars

I enjoyed this greatly and I am dyingggg to know about criticisms of big tech and surveillance capitalism that utilize the concepts in this book—particularly around legibility and the mechanization of people/minds. If you see this and you know of any, plz share! Such a good read for those of us in the interstitial spaces between the provably known and the experientially felt, and for those thinking about the pain and problems of objectivity.

Subjects

  • Economic assistance, domestic
  • Social problems
  • Human services
  • State, the