What James C. Scott thinks about democracy

@james-c-scott · 10 positions · On ppll ↗

Political scientist and anthropologist (1936 to 2024) whose Seeing Like a State (1998) explained how states' schemes to make society legible and planned have failed, by ignoring local, practical knowledge.

James C. Scott did not write this page.

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Only James C. Scott on democracy. See everyone on democracy

2 dated positions, c. 2021, in their own words. Our reading of what James C. Scott has said — not written or endorsed by them.

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c. 2021

Our readingExtreme high modernism needs the absence of democratic resistance

Their wordsThe modernist vision requires for its high modernism, for its most extreme examples, the absence of the restraining factors of democratic social organization—resistance.

↗James C. Scott on the Perils of State Power (The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk, Persuasion transcript)persuasion.community 4th of 6 in this piece
c. 2021

Our readingIf we must have states, they should be social-democratic welfare states

Their wordsIf we've got to have states, let's have social-democratic states with functioning democracies and a welfare state.

↗James C. Scott on the Perils of State Power (The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk, Persuasion transcript)persuasion.community 6th of 6 in this piece