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Seeing Like a State
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
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Seeing Like a State
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Summary
Compulsory ujamaa villages in Tanzania, collectivization in Russia, Le Corbusier's urban planning theory realized in Brasilia, the Great Leap Forward in China, agricultural "modernization" in the Tropics - the twentieth century has been racked by grand utopian schemes that have inadvertently brought death and disruption to millions. Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry?
In this wide-ranging and original audiobook, James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields. Centrally managed social plans misfire, Scott argues, when they impose schematic visions that do violence to complex interdependencies that are not - and cannot - be fully understood. Further, the success of designs for social organization depends upon the recognition that local, practical knowledge is as important as formal, epistemic knowledge. The author builds a persuasive case against "development theory" and imperialistic state planning that disregards the values, desires, and objections of its subjects. He identifies and discusses four conditions common to all planning disasters: administrative ordering of nature and society by the state; a "high-modernist ideology" that places confidence in the ability of science to improve every aspect of human life; a willingness to use authoritarian state power to effect large-scale interventions; and a prostrate civil society that cannot effectively resist such plans.
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What listeners say about Seeing Like a State
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 16-01-19
Once seen, can it be unseen?
Scott's book is a monumental paean to anarchist and anti-hierarchical wisdom. Although it stretches and extends across multiple disciplines - agriculture, forestry, city planning, industrial organization, etc. - it manages to weave them into a surprisingly coherent and compelling narrative.
The key boogeymen are the predictable (and sometimes unpredictable) shortcomings of technocratic hubris. Scott amply documents, mostly from primary sources, how such hubris has been a defining feature of modernistic statecraft - from Le Corbusier to Lenin.
The takeaway message of the book is that the preservation of bottom-up experimentation, and the harnessing of local knowhow, should inform all sustainable central planning. You should let cities and communities evolve on their own, rather than imposing a system of conformity.
The end result is an eye-opening, powerful narrative about the excesses of human optimism. All utopian schemers should read this book. They should think twice about the consequences of their actions - lest they risk becoming the supervillains of tomorrow.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 26-05-22
High-modernity fails
Have previously read Scott - the guy’s a genius! Was nice listening to this audio book which is one of his which I ain’t previously read. Not too often do academics attempt anarchist analyses of recent state histories. As well as disastrous state planned cities and economies, Scott also covers the environmental impact of high-modernism. A very relevant book for our times. My only gripe was the slightly monotonous American accent of the narrator which lost my attention at times.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J. Leigh
- 28-10-21
Brilliant
A fantastic book, amazingly insightful. Gives a very good explanation of why we should proceed cautiously when enacting social policy.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 24-09-21
Two reasons why I give it 4 stars
This is a great book that I came away from feeling like I had really learned something. However, I can’t give it 5 stars for two reasons.
First, it is too long. The principal ideas are repeated again and again in painstaking theoretical detail. I got the message early on in the book.
Second, the narrator’s voice is too gravelly for me. It sounds like he needs to clear his throat most of the time.
Apart from these two points, I’d readily give this book 5 stars.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazonclient
- 20-02-19
Excellent Book
A most insightful book. Very well read. I'm astonished that this book hasn't been much more influential. If I'd read it when it first came out I'd have predicted that it would have had as much impact as Small is Beautiful did in the '70s.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Dr. H
- 24-03-24
I found it really interesting at first
But the narrator's voice was not engaging and after a while I only listened to it when I was struggling to get to sleep at night.
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