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Seeing Like a State Book Review by Sara (and introduction)

I am delighted for Sara O'Donnell to join the lab this fall. Sara hails from Wyoming where she grew up and went to undergrad. She has a background in Gender and Women Studies and has been a river guide for the past few years, including running trips down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Sara will start her graduate studies in our Geography program in the fall, likely pursing a thesis around outdoor recreation and rivers. It is always exciting to see where graduate students go during their studies. Sara brings a unique perspective, interesting life experiences, an inquisitive mind, and a positive disposition. We are lucky to have her!


She has already joined the lab and volunteered to write a review of the last book we read, James Scott's classic Seeing Like a State. Welcome Sara!


SEEING LIKE A STATE: HOW CERTAIN SCHEMES TO IMPROVE THE HUMAN CONDITION HAVE FAILED by James C. Scott

 

Seeing like a State by James C. Scott is a sweepingly thorough analysis of top-down state development through a framework he identifies as high-modernism, which encompasses an approach used by elites to regulate the state’s population by simplifying, standardizing, and categorizing all aspects of society. Scott aptly analyzes why the usually well-meaning goals of these elites to increase legibility and control of a population often leads to strife and suffering of its people. He uses clear cut examples from all over the world to explain high-modernism and its failures, such as the development of Brasilia as the new capital of Brazil and agricultural collectivization under Stalin in Russia. These examples, along with many others he uses throughout the book, clearly define relatively obscure concepts to give the reader a strong grasp of not only structures of the contemporary world established by the state to increase and maintain control of its population, but also of where certain states and their elites have overstepped and ultimately failed their population.

 

The first portion of the book is dedicated to explaining the global evolution of state control during the last two centuries as states sought power through more clearly defined populations and systems. Explaining this development is a huge undertaking, but Scott aptly identifies how systems of control developed, such as standardized measurements, currency, and modes of production, as well as mapping, unified languages, and last names. Systems such as these, considered normal today, began as a process implemented by the state to make the population more legible, less complex, less diverse, and, therefore, easier to regulate. Every state reaches for forms of control, and Scott makes it clear that this is not inherently a negative or positive trait. More unity, consolidation, and access to a state’s population can increase people’s access to state-regulated institutions like education and healthcare. As the state clears the way for such access, however, regional practices, traditions, dialects, and histories can be left behind or actively attacked. Scott’s thorough descriptions of state development force the reader to examine the structures of the contemporary world through the eyes of the state as it vies for more control of its people, illuminating the reasoning behind many of the state-regulatory processes we adhere to today.  

 

Throughout the rest of the book, Scott keenly evaluates states across the globe that used high-modernist beliefs to restructure society. Although he provides a multitude of global examples, he focuses strongly on agricultural development in Russia and Tanzania. The essence of his evaluations is that regardless of how well-meaning the leaders of these states were, top-down state development that ignores the individual needs and knowledge of the population is unlikely to succeed. Scott examines how these states often dismissed their population’s diversity of cultures, histories, and practices. Leaders tended to view their populations as one, malleable mass ready to be formed into the new shape they envisioned. Such leaders did not value the generational knowledge of the people or the diversity within the physical landscape of the state. Their view of what a modern state should look like stemmed from a desire for an aesthetic image of geometric clarity and machine-like efficiency. Although Scott focuses mostly on examples of agricultural development in Russia and Tanzania, his evaluations of the impact of such disregard of local customs is applicable worldwide. He touches very little on colonization, but his analysis heavily rings true for the many nations worldwide impacted by colonial powers.

 

Scott provides a few broad suggestions for future state development plans as he concludes. These suggestions summarize the mistakes the states he evaluated made during their development plans but does little to provide a defined path forward. The strength of this book is not in providing solutions to state development issues, but rather in its in-depth analysis of patterns of historical state development and the very real impact that development had on populations around the world. It provides a unique perspective of state development as viewed through the eyes of the state as it sought more defined processes of control. It contains a breadth of pertinent information presented and organized clearly, quite a feat considering the scope and timeline covered. Seeing Like a States provides a profound look at the foundational structures of contemporary states and an intense evaluation of the failures of top-down development.




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