Seeing Like a State

Seeing Like a State Overview

"Seeing Like a State" by James C. Scott critically examines the ideology that leads to centralized planning, the disregard for local systems, and ultimately failure and devestating consequences. The book offers insights into the dangers of overreliance on top-down approaches and the importance of local knowledge in governance."

A Critique of High Modernism

The book "Seeing Like a State," critically examines the application of what Scott calls "high modernism", and how it has led to large-scale social engineering projects that often failed or had devastating consequences. He argues that these failures largely stem from a disregard for the complex, locally-adapted systems that organically govern human societies.

Scott's thesis is that as the State has expanded, a flawed ideology has emerged that fails to account for the intricate dynamics of human societies. He calls this ideology "High Modernism". Scott explains these are characterized by a top-down, technocratic approach to governance that emphasizes centralized planning, standardization, and uniformity. Scott shows how this ideology leads to a utopian vision where society operates in a highly efficient, rational, and technologically advanced manner and how this vision can lead to ambitious projects aimed at radically transforming society.

However, Scott argues that in contrast to its idilic visions, in many respects High Modernism seeks to make society more legible and manageable in the furtherance of its own power and control more than the betterment of the human condition.

“The aspiration to such uniformity and order alerts us to the fact that modern statecraft is largely a project of internal colonization, often glossed, as it is in its imperial rhetoric, as a 'civilizing mission'.” ― James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

Principles of High Modernism

Scott identifies the following principles of high modernism:

• Unwavering Faith in Human Ability to Direct Progress: human ingenuity can and should be applied to reorganize social and economic systems.

• Centralized Planning and Control: large-scale, centralized planning and control over social and economic processes. It assumes that experts should have the knowledge and authority to design and implement plans for society at large.

• Standardization and Uniformity: standardize of social, economic, and environmental elements to make them more legible and manageable

• Disregard for Local Knowledge and Traditions: deemphasize or disregard local, traditional knowledge and practices (metis)

• Authoritarian Tendency: emphasis on central planning and expert control can align with authoritarian governance. Authoritarian regimes may use high modernist ideals to justify extensive interventions in society and the economy.

• Vision of a Utopian Future: High modernism is often driven by a vision of a utopian future where society operates in a highly efficient, rational, and technologically advanced manner. This vision can lead to ambitious projects aimed at radically transforming society.

The Limits of State Power: Soviet Collectivization of Agriculture

In a reflective exploration of one of history's most significant social engineering experiments, the Soviet collectivization of agriculture under Joseph Stalin serves as a powerful example. This era, detailed in James C. Scott's "Seeing Like a State," highlights the consequences of imposing high modernist ideals and centralized planning on a complex society. The Soviet Union's ambitious goal was to transform its agrarian structure into an industrial powerhouse, which led to the forced consolidation of individual peasant farms into collective and state farms. This process, driven by Marxist-Leninist ideology, was marred by political and social coercion, often escalating to violence. It aimed to increase agricultural productivity, bring the peasantry under state control, and funnel resources into rapid industrialization, but instead led to widespread resistance, inefficiency, and the catastrophic Great Famine in Ukraine.

The collectivization policy, marked by its disregard for local agricultural practices and knowledge, starkly illustrates Scott's thesis on the dangers of top-down, radical societal changes. The state's failure to acknowledge and integrate the complex, localized realities of agricultural life resulted in disastrous inefficiency and crop failures. This chapter in history left a legacy of environmental damage, disrupted rural life, and immense human suffering. It stands as a poignant reminder of the limits of state power and the importance of respecting and incorporating local, practical knowledge in governance. This historical episode continues to offer relevant lessons in understanding the balance between state intervention and the intricate dynamics of human societies.

References

• Scott, James C. "Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed." Yale University Press, 1998. Goodreads