James C. Scott
A political scientist and anthropologist known for his work on resistance, power, and the 'arts of not being governed'.
Quotes by James C. Scott
The state is a fragile construct, always vulnerable to the resistance of its subjects.
The state's power is often more imagined than real.
The state is a constant struggle between those who seek to govern and those who seek to escape governance.
The state is a historical anomaly, not a natural order.
The state is a project of control, and control is always incomplete.
The state is a form of organized violence.
The state is a threat to human freedom and dignity.
The state is a product of history, not a natural phenomenon.
The state is a form of social organization that emerged under specific historical conditions.
No ruling class is ever entirely at ease with the laws it imposes on the ruled.
The utopian social engineering of the twentieth century has failed, often spectacularly.
Legibility is a condition of surveillance.
The state sees differently from the way it is seen.
Smallholder agriculture is the most ecologically sustainable form of production.
Everyday forms of resistance make no headlines.
The art of not being governed is the practice of voluntary invisibility.
Anarchism is the most profound critique of the state.
Mutual aid is the foundation of human society.
The powerful prefer legible subjects.
Peasants are not passive victims; they are active agents.