A review by inquiry_from_an_anti_library
Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott

dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

2.0

Is This An Overview?

States can intervene in societies for plunder or public welfare.  Although a lack of information is acceptable when the intervention is small, a lack of information is disabling for interventions which are extensive, large scale or long term.  State interventions into their societies requires information about what to change and how to change, they need to understand what they are governing.  More extensive interventions into society need more information about the people and their behavior. 

 

The interventions into society can have disastrous outcomes.  Conditions for disastrous outcomes have four elements in common, which are 1) information simplification, 2) ideology, 3) authoritarian methods of change, 4) and a lack of resistance by those being changed.  Simplification of information has the advantage of developing measurable units, and focusing decision making on certain prominent limited aspects of reality.  The disadvantage is missing other information that can affect the outcomes, which can turn successes into failures.  The interventions are motivated by an ideology which justifies the prescribed changes.  Authoritarian regimes override various social obstacles to the plan, enabling a dictatorship of the planner.  No compromises are possible with the singular answer provided by the planner.  The lack of resistance means lack of tacit, specialized knowledge.  An inability to properly adjust to local conditions.

 

Caveats?

The focus is on how totalitarian regimes misused information.  The methods of how government intervention failed to resolve collective action problems.  There is a lack of information on how extensive interventions were or could be successful, with some support for interventions that are limited and local.