An edition of Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (1998)

Seeing Like a State

How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (The Institution for Social and Policy St)

New Ed edition

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Cover of: Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott, James C. Scott
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  • ★★★★ 4.3 (13 ratings)
  • 132 Want to read
  • 6 Currently reading
  • 23 Have read
Notes

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Last edited by bitnapper
November 6, 2025 | History
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An edition of Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (1998)

Seeing Like a State

How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (The Institution for Social and Policy St)

New Ed edition

by

  • ★★★★ 4.3 (13 ratings)
  • 132 Want to read
  • 6 Currently reading
  • 23 Have read

Examines how (sometimes quasi-) authoritarian central planning fails to deliver the goods, be they increased resources for the state or a better life for the people.

Publish Date
Publisher
Yale University Press
Language
English
Pages
464

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Previews available in: English

Subjects

Central planning, Social engineering, Social aspects of Central planning, Social aspects, Authoritarianism, Long Now Manual for Civilization, Economic assistance, domestic, Social problems, Human services, State, the, POLITICAL SCIENCE, Public Policy, Economic Policy, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS, Government & Business, Development, Economic Development, Business Development, Structural Adjustment, General, Pays en développement, Pays de l'Est, Economie dirigée, Régimes totalitaires, Aspects sociaux, Autoritarisme, Planeconomie, Utopieën, Maatschappijverbetering, PLANEJAMENTO ECONÔMICO (ASPECTOS SOCIAIS), AUTORITARISMO (SISTEMAS DE GOVERNO), ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURAL E SOCIAL, PLANEJAMENTO TERRITORIAL (AVALIAÇÃO), Planification économique, Aspect social, Ingénierie sociale

People

V. I. Lenin, Jules Nyerere, Le Corbusier, Baron Haussmann

Places

Tanzania, Soviet Russia, Brasilia

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Seeing Like a State
Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (The Institution for Social and Policy St)
February 8, 1999, Yale University Press
Paperback in English - New Ed edition
Cover of: Seeing like a state
Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed
1998, Yale University Press
in English

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Book Details

First Sentence

"Certain forms of knowledge and control require a narrowing of vision."

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.
Page ix
Introduction.
Page 1
Part 1. STATE PROJECTS OF LEGIBILITY AND SIMPLIFICATION
Page 9
Chapter 1. Nature and Space
Page 11
Chapter 2. Cities, People, and Language
Page 53
Part 2. TRANSFORMING VISIONS
Page 85
Chapter 3. Authoritarian High Modernism
Page 87
Chapter 4. The High-Modernist City: An Experiment and a Critique
Page 103
Chapter 5. The Revolutionary Party: A Plan and a Diagnosis
Page 147
Part 3. THE SOCIAL ENGINEERING OF RURAL SETTLEMENT AND PRODUCTION
Page 181
Chapter 6. Soviet Collectivization, Capitalist Dreams
Page 193
Chapter 7. Compulsory Villagization in Tanzania: Aesthetics and Miniaturization
Page 223
Chapter 8. Taming Nature: An Agriculture of Legibility and Simplicity
Page 262
PART 4. THE MISSING LINK
Page 307
Chapter 9. Thin Simplifications and Practical Knowledge: Métis
Page 309
Chapter 10. Conclusion
Page 342
Notes.
Page 359
Sources for Illustrations.
Page 433
Index.
Page 435

Classifications

Library of Congress
HD87.5.S365 1998

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Number of pages
464
Dimensions
9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
Weight
1.4 pounds

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL9626676M
ISBN 10
0300078153
ISBN 13
9780300078152
LibraryThing
12260
Goodreads
20186

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL26241985W

Source records

Excerpts

Certain forms of knowledge and control require a narrowing of vision.
added anonymously.

Links outside Open Library

Community Reviews (1)

Pace 1 Slow paced 100% Enjoyability 1 Engaging 100% Clarity 1 Succinct 100% Difficulty 1 University 100% Breadth 1 Interdisciplinary 100% Genres 1 Research 100% Mood 1 Scientific 100% Impressions 1 Highly recommend 100% Length 1 Long 100% Credibility 1 Evergreen 100% Features 1 Table of contents 25% Appendix 25% Bibliography 25% Chapters 25% Purpose 1 Learn about 100%

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