James C. Scott, in his book “Seeing Like a State”, writes about the dangers of large-scale social engineering projects and the tendency of states to simplify and homogenize complex systems in the pursuit of efficiency and control. He states: “The more ambitious the reform, the more likely it is to rely on gross oversimplifications of the phenomena it targets. These oversimplifications are then built into the very design of the reform and become part of its logic. This is because the more complex the reality being reformatted, the more difficult it is to get a grip on it. And so the reformer is forced to reduce the complexity of the phenomena to a few manageable elements.”
Race and State
Race and State
Race and State
James C. Scott, in his book “Seeing Like a State”, writes about the dangers of large-scale social engineering projects and the tendency of states to simplify and homogenize complex systems in the pursuit of efficiency and control. He states: “The more ambitious the reform, the more likely it is to rely on gross oversimplifications of the phenomena it targets. These oversimplifications are then built into the very design of the reform and become part of its logic. This is because the more complex the reality being reformatted, the more difficult it is to get a grip on it. And so the reformer is forced to reduce the complexity of the phenomena to a few manageable elements.”