{"product_id":"2940169753721","title":"Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed","description":"\u003cp\u003eCompulsory \u003ci\u003eujamaa\u003c\/i\u003e villages in Tanzania, collectivization in Russia, Le Corbusier's urban planning theory realized in Brasilia, the Great Leap Forward in China, agricultural \"modernization\" in the Tropicsamp;mdash;the twentieth century has been racked by grand utopian schemes that have inadvertently brought death and disruption to millions. Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this wide-ranging and original book, James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields. Centrally managed social plans misfire, Scott argues, when they impose schematic visions that do violence to complex interdependencies that are notamp;mdash;and cannotamp;mdash;be fully understood. Further, the success of designs for social organization depends upon the recognition that local, practical knowledge is as important as formal, epistemic knowledge. The author builds a persuasive case against \"development theory\" and imperialistic state planning that disregards the values, desires, and objections of its subjects. He identifies and discusses four conditions common to all planning disasters: administrative ordering of nature and society by the state; a \"high-modernist ideology\" that places confidence in the ability of science to improve every aspect of human life; a willingness to use authoritarian state power to effect large- scale interventions; and a prostrate civil society that cannot effectively resist such plans.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Audio, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47114683285744,"sku":"2940169753721","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940169753721_p0.jpg?v=1769899927","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940169753721","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}