Executive summary: James Scott’s book “Seeing Like A State” critiques high modernist, state-driven attempts to impose order on complex systems, arguing that local knowledge and organic development are often superior to top-down planning.
Key points:
The book examines failed state projects in forestry, urban planning, agriculture, and village resettlement that ignored local expertise.
High modernism combined with authoritarian state power and weak civil society led to disasters like Soviet collective farming.
The author values “metis” (local practical knowledge) over scientific planning in many domains.
The book’s lessons may apply to confrontations between educated elites and poor underclasses in other contexts.
While critical of high modernism, the review notes that scientific/planned approaches have had major successes in some areas.
The book’s implications for modern rationalism are unclear, but suggest caution in applying domain-general skills to practical areas with established expertise.
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Executive summary: James Scott’s book “Seeing Like A State” critiques high modernist, state-driven attempts to impose order on complex systems, arguing that local knowledge and organic development are often superior to top-down planning.
Key points:
The book examines failed state projects in forestry, urban planning, agriculture, and village resettlement that ignored local expertise.
High modernism combined with authoritarian state power and weak civil society led to disasters like Soviet collective farming.
The author values “metis” (local practical knowledge) over scientific planning in many domains.
The book’s lessons may apply to confrontations between educated elites and poor underclasses in other contexts.
While critical of high modernism, the review notes that scientific/planned approaches have had major successes in some areas.
The book’s implications for modern rationalism are unclear, but suggest caution in applying domain-general skills to practical areas with established expertise.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.