作者:
James C. Scott 出版社: Yale University Press 副标题: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed 出版年: 1999-2-8 页数: 464 定价: USD 21.00 装帧: Paperback ISBN: 9780300078152
Compulsory ujamaa 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 Tropics -- 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 ...
Compulsory ujamaa 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 Tropics -- 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? In 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 not -- and cannot -- 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. "A broad-ranging, theoretically important, and empirically grounded treatment of the modern state and its propensity to simplify and make legible a society which by nature is complex and opaque. For anyone interested inlearning about this fundamental tension of modernity and about the destruction wrought in the twentieth century as a consequence of the dominant development ideology of the simplifying state, this is a must-read". -- Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, author of Hitler's Willing Executioners
作者简介
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James C. Scott is the Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Anthropology at Yale University and current president of the Association of Asian Studies. He is the author of Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts, and The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia...
James C. Scott is the Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Anthropology at Yale University and current president of the Association of Asian Studies. He is the author of Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts, and The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia, all published by Yale University Press.
phenomenal! fantastic! High recommended if you are interested in the underlying ideologies supporting the authoritarian state-lead utopian project. But personally, a romanticizing vision of metis is a...phenomenal! fantastic! High recommended if you are interested in the underlying ideologies supporting the authoritarian state-lead utopian project. But personally, a romanticizing vision of metis is also dangerous to perpetuate the disastrous outcomes brought by those autocracies. (展开)
翻来覆去的high modernism vs local knowledge，第一二章用啰嗦的篇幅叙述了Weber精炼的”理性化”理论，忽视了理性化科层制与社会的相互作用，过于抬高metis，对不同理性的区分阐释不够，将国家行政计划和市场自我调节机制的逻辑等同因而混为一谈。总体理论亮点不多，写作太啰嗦。
"These typifications are indispensable to statecraft. State simplifications such as maps, census, cadastral lists, and standard units of measurement represent techniques for grasping a large and complex reality; in order for officials to be able to comprehend aspects of the ensemble, that complex reality must be reduced to schematic categories." ---------------------------------------- I kind o...(1回应)
2012-05-02 19:181人喜欢
"These typifications are indispensable to statecraft. State simplifications such as maps, census, cadastral lists, and standard units of measurement represent techniques for grasping a large and complex reality; in order for officials to be able to comprehend aspects of the ensemble, that complex reality must be reduced to schematic categories."
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I kind of want to carry this argument one step further: the making of the simple categories does not only provides the state with the synoptic knowledge it needs, but also makes possible the public policies.
For example, we have several categories for describing family structures, e.g., traditional, single parenthood, etc...
Based on this, demographers have done a lot of research, trying to figure out the influence of family structures on children's wellbeing. Or, maybe they were the people who first made those categories. In any case, their research will justify the expense of government funding, for example, to start a campaign against divorce.
Yet in reality, family structure itself rarely decides children's wellbeing (Gerson, 2010).
So, the simple categorization makes the public policies sound "reasonable", if you are thinking through the categories made by the state. On the other hand, however, such knowledge may not be relevant to the reality at all, and the kind of policies based on the knowledge are not likely to have real effects. But nevertheless, such policies give the impression that the state is really doing something good for the public.
High Modernism的危险，在下面这几句话里表达得直接明了： For Lenin, the vanguard party is a machine for making a revolution and then for building socialism - tasks whose main lines have already been worked out. For Le Corbusier, the house is a machine for living, and the city planner is a specialist whose knowledge shows him how a city must be built. For Le Corbusier, the people are irrelevant to...
2014-02-13 02:54
High Modernism的危险，在下面这几句话里表达得直接明了：
For Lenin, the vanguard party is a machine for making a revolution and then for building socialism - tasks whose main lines have already been worked out. For Le Corbusier, the house is a machine for living, and the city planner is a specialist whose knowledge shows him how a city must be built.
For Le Corbusier, the people are irrelevant to the process of city planning, although the result is designed with their well-being and productivity in mind. Lenin cannot make the revolution without the proletariat, but they are seen largely as troops to be deployed.
Each of these schemes implies a single, unitary answer discoverable by specialists and hence a command centre, which can, or ought to, impose the correct solution. 引自 The Revolutionary Party
Only by grasping the potential achievement and range of metis is it possible to appreciate the valuable knowledge that high-modernist schemes deprive themselves of when they simply impose their plans. One major reason why metis is denigrated, particularly in the hegemonic imperium of scientific knowledge, is that its "findings" are practical, opportune, and contextual rather than integrated int...
2012-05-03 11:29
Only by grasping the potential achievement and range of metis is it possible to appreciate the valuable knowledge that high-modernist schemes deprive themselves of when they simply impose their plans. One major reason why metis is denigrated, particularly in the hegemonic imperium of scientific knowledge, is that its "findings" are practical, opportune, and contextual rather than integrated into the general conventions of scientific discourse.
"Society must be remade before it can be the object of quantification. Categories of people and things must be defined, measures must be interhcangeable; land and commodities must be conceived as represented by an equivalent in money. There is much of what Weber called rationalization in this, and also a good deal of centralization." ---- Theodore M. Porter, "Objectivity as Standardization"
2012-05-02 03:40
"Society must be remade before it can be the object of quantification. Categories of people and things must be defined, measures must be interhcangeable; land and commodities must be conceived as represented by an equivalent in money. There is much of what Weber called rationalization in this, and also a good deal of centralization." ---- Theodore M. Porter, "Objectivity as Standardization"
"Administrative man recognizes that the world he perceives is a drastically simplified model of the buzzing, blooming confusion that consitutes the real world. He is content with the gross simplification because he believes that the real world is mostly empty - that most of the facts of the real world have no great relevance to any particular situation he is facing and that most significant cha...
2012-05-02 04:59
"Administrative man recognizes that the world he perceives is a drastically simplified model of the buzzing, blooming confusion that consitutes the real world. He is content with the gross simplification because he believes that the real world is mostly empty - that most of the facts of the real world have no great relevance to any particular situation he is facing and that most significant chains of causes and consequences are short and simple." ---- Herbert Simon
"Some of the categories that we most take for granted and with which we now routinely apprehend the social world had their origin in state projects of standardization and legibility."
2012-05-02 10:43
"Some of the categories that we most take for granted and with which we now routinely apprehend the social world had their origin in state projects of standardization and legibility."
Talking about the standardization of language... "Standard (Parisian) French and Paris were not only focal points of power; they were also magnets. The growth of markets, physical mobility, new careers, political patronage, public service, and a national educational system all meant that facility in French and connections to Paris were the paths of social advancement and material success. It wa...
2012-05-02 11:25
Talking about the standardization of language...
"Standard (Parisian) French and Paris were not only focal points of power; they were also magnets. The growth of markets, physical mobility, new careers, political patronage, public service, and a national educational system all meant that facility in French and connections to Paris were the paths of social advancement and material success. It was a state simplification that promised to reward those who complied with its logic and to penalize those who ignored it."
High Modernism的危险，在下面这几句话里表达得直接明了： For Lenin, the vanguard party is a machine for making a revolution and then for building socialism - tasks whose main lines have already been worked out. For Le Corbusier, the house is a machine for living, and the city planner is a specialist whose knowledge shows him how a city must be built. For Le Corbusier, the people are irrelevant to...
2014-02-13 02:54
High Modernism的危险，在下面这几句话里表达得直接明了：
For Lenin, the vanguard party is a machine for making a revolution and then for building socialism - tasks whose main lines have already been worked out. For Le Corbusier, the house is a machine for living, and the city planner is a specialist whose knowledge shows him how a city must be built.
For Le Corbusier, the people are irrelevant to the process of city planning, although the result is designed with their well-being and productivity in mind. Lenin cannot make the revolution without the proletariat, but they are seen largely as troops to be deployed.
Each of these schemes implies a single, unitary answer discoverable by specialists and hence a command centre, which can, or ought to, impose the correct solution. 引自 The Revolutionary Party
Only by grasping the potential achievement and range of metis is it possible to appreciate the valuable knowledge that high-modernist schemes deprive themselves of when they simply impose their plans. One major reason why metis is denigrated, particularly in the hegemonic imperium of scientific knowledge, is that its "findings" are practical, opportune, and contextual rather than integrated int...
2012-05-03 11:29
Only by grasping the potential achievement and range of metis is it possible to appreciate the valuable knowledge that high-modernist schemes deprive themselves of when they simply impose their plans. One major reason why metis is denigrated, particularly in the hegemonic imperium of scientific knowledge, is that its "findings" are practical, opportune, and contextual rather than integrated into the general conventions of scientific discourse.
In urban planning as in forestry, it is a short step from parsimonious assumptions to the practice of shaping the environment so that it satisfies the simplifications required by the formula.
2012-05-02 23:50
In urban planning as in forestry, it is a short step from parsimonious assumptions to the practice of shaping the environment so that it satisfies the simplifications required by the formula.
justfool
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0 有用 Pompeii 2019-03-30
很多examples和metaphors，语句也算优美，如果不那么话唠就完美了
0 有用 dldldl 2011-09-27
phenomenal! fantastic! High recommended if you are interested in the underlying ideologies supporting the authoritarian state-lead utopian project. But personally, a romanticizing vision of metis is a... phenomenal! fantastic! High recommended if you are interested in the underlying ideologies supporting the authoritarian state-lead utopian project. But personally, a romanticizing vision of metis is also dangerous to perpetuate the disastrous outcomes brought by those autocracies. (展开)
0 有用 梦溪 2017-01-23
翻来覆去的high modernism vs local knowledge，第一二章用啰嗦的篇幅叙述了Weber精炼的”理性化”理论，忽视了理性化科层制与社会的相互作用，过于抬高metis，对不同理性的区分阐释不够，将国家行政计划和市场自我调节机制的逻辑等同因而混为一谈。总体理论亮点不多，写作太啰嗦。
1 有用 Michaeeel 2016-10-03
三星半。略失望。主要论点拎出来之后，基本上就没有亮点了。
0 有用 庐陵 2013-03-07
对国家理性尤其是国家计划的批判，这是长处，缺点是没有区分不同的理性，难道政府就不用发挥任何作用了莫？
0 有用 地下宇航员 2021-02-14
6.5/10. 有点失望。虽然不乏见解洞见，但毫无方法可言，比起比较政治经典专著更像个anecdote集。这么有名大概是发行时正好赶上了冷战后反极权反理性建构思潮，有点overrated。
0 有用 山无中 2021-01-02
思路不错，启发人。当然，确切的信息量不能跟journal article比。当休闲读物挺好的
0 有用 澈之 2020-10-23
国家回归潮流中社会学对国家作为主体的分析，在斯科特这里，国家是具有自己偏好和自主性的（官员的意志），即想要通过社会状况的简易化simplification使得自己统治的区域易读化legible，这种趋势到极致就是全能主义或者威权国家尝试统一所有实现意识形态宏愿的政策工程，易读化为国家实现这一计划提供能力，但这也是所有现代国家必经之路，而如果再加之以强现代主义作为意识形态意愿+威权国家的强制能力，一... 国家回归潮流中社会学对国家作为主体的分析，在斯科特这里，国家是具有自己偏好和自主性的（官员的意志），即想要通过社会状况的简易化simplification使得自己统治的区域易读化legible，这种趋势到极致就是全能主义或者威权国家尝试统一所有实现意识形态宏愿的政策工程，易读化为国家实现这一计划提供能力，但这也是所有现代国家必经之路，而如果再加之以强现代主义作为意识形态意愿+威权国家的强制能力，一旦社会的力量薄弱难以抵御国家渗透之时，悲剧性的政策工程就会出现。而这些工程之所以失败的原因则是这些人造规则和设计都不足以适应和管控社会秩序的方方面面，解释未免显得过于朴素。斯科特这里将国家作为分析单元，是对80年代初最开始国家回归学派将国家的反思，意识到全能国家自主意识的负面效应以及社会对国家的反作 (展开)
0 有用 drifter 2020-08-29
不算很好，但是給了我很多啟發。
0 有用 Nathan Wong 2020-08-07
斯科特老爷爷👨🏻🦳还是更像一个人类学家。地方知识和实践都很重要，现代官僚制的缺点也很明显，但并不能忽视它本身的优点和调适能力。虽然各地有各地的风土人情，但各地的state代理人也是和当地的局部知识相匹配的。state从来也不是铁板一块，大型项目的执行也从来没有真地做到全国一个样。