Non-fiction Book Group: Seeing Like a State, How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

Our book group is open to all. Attend every meeting, occasionally or just once in your life. All we ask is that you read the book in advance and take part in the discussion. There’s a short introduction by a member of staff, a group regular, or someone we know with a special interest in the book in question.

This quarter we’ll be reading and discussing Seeing Like a State: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed by James C. Scott

In this wide-ranging and original book, James C. Scott analyses 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.

Scott’s metaphorical mastery of parallel historical trends allows him to show how fiscal forests, planned cities, imposed surnames, official languages, and collective farms are all of a piece. As outgrowths of a “high modernist” ideology, they collectively foretell social disaster when combined with authoritarian politics and a weak society.

Free event. Refreshments provided.