James C. Scott

American political scientist who has written the most important critiques of state power and modernist schemes of improvement — from the perspective of the people they affect.

Seeing Like a State: high modernism — the hubristic attempt to reorganize society according to rational schemes — produces catastrophic results because it destroys local, practical knowledge (métis). Weapons of the Weak: how dominated people resist without open revolt — foot-dragging, false compliance, gossip. Against the Grain: the first states were grain states — and people regularly fled states to live in the 'barbarian' highlands.