Seeing Like a State
Also known as Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
James C. Scott's 1998 study of why grand state plans fail.
At a glance
Key ideas
Legibility, High modernism, Local knowledge …
See all 4Reception
David Laitin, John Gray, Russell Hardin
See all 3Connections
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Scott argues that states force legibility on their subjects, simplifying diverse local arrangements into standard forms they can count and control.
- Examples include permanent surnames, censuses, cadastral surveys and standard measures.
- Combined with high modernism, an overconfident faith in scientific planning, this leads to disasters.
- He cites Soviet collective farms, the building of Brasília and forced villagisation in Tanzania.
Why it matters
- Its terms legibility and high modernism are widely used to explain why top-down plans go wrong.
Key facts
Key ideas
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Legibility1
States make society readable by homogenising it.
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High modernism1
Overconfidence in designing society by supposed scientific laws.
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Local knowledge1
Successful schemes must take account of local conditions and expertise.
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Not anti-state1
The state is needed for things like disaster response and vaccination.
Reception
Connections
Written by
Links
Sources
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