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James C. Scott

What James C. Scott thinks about government

@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.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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

6 dated positions, c. 1998 to c. 2021, in their own words. Our reading of what James C. Scott has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingThe state will not be abolished: anarchism deserves two cheers, not three

    Their wordsI call myself a sort of “half-assed anarchist,” and that's why the book that I wrote was called Two Cheers for Anarchism, not three cheers. I don't think we're going to abolish the state.

    ↗James C. Scott on the Perils of State Power (The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk, Persuasion transcript)persuasion.community 1st of 6 in this piece

  3. Our readingThe welfare state has done emancipatory things only with a pistol at its temple

    Their wordsthe thing to remember about the welfare state and the emancipatory things it does is that it has only done that with the pistol at its temple.

    ↗James C. Scott on the Perils of State Power (The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk, Persuasion transcript)persuasion.community 2nd of 6 in this piece

  5. Our readingLife was better for hunter-gatherers than for subjects of the early state

    Their wordsLife was better for hunters and gatherers than it was for subjects in the early state.

    ↗James C. Scott on the Perils of State Power (The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk, Persuasion transcript)persuasion.community 3rd of 6 in this piece

  7. Our readingPlanners mistake visual order for efficiency and working order

    Their wordsIn the course of writing Seeing Like a State, I was struck again and again by the mistaken assumption that visual order is synonymous with efficiency and working order.

    ↗James C. Scott on the Perils of State Power (The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk, Persuasion transcript)persuasion.community 5th of 6 in this piece

  9. 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

  11. Our readingPlanned social order is schematic and always ignores essential features of real social order

    Their wordsDesigned or planned social order is necessarily schematic; it always ignores essential features of any real, functioning social order.

    ↗Seeing Like a State (Yale University Press, 1998)archive.org All 4 from this book