像一個國家一樣看待：某些改善人類狀況的計劃是如何失敗的

 Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

James C. Scott

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“Illuminating and beautifully written, this book calls into sharp relief the nature of the world we now inhabit.”—New Yorker “A magisterial critique of top-down social planning.”—Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times “One of the most profound and illuminating studies of this century to have been published in recent decades.”—John Gray, New York Times Book Review 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.

像一個國家一樣看待：某些改善人類狀況的計劃是如何失敗的

詹姆斯·C·斯科特

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“這本書充滿啟發性和優美的文字，使我們現在居住的世界的性質得到了鮮明的體現。”——《紐約客》“對自上而下的社會規劃的權威批判。”——詹妮弗·舒斯勒，紐約時報 “最深刻的著作之一以及近幾十年來發表的本世紀的啟發性研究。”——約翰·格雷，紐約時報書評坦桑尼亞的強制性 ujamaa 村莊，俄羅斯的集體化，勒柯布西耶在巴西利亞實現的城市規劃理論，中國的大躍進，熱帶地區的農業“現代化”——二十世紀被宏偉的烏托邦計劃所折磨，這些計劃無意中給數百萬人帶來了死亡和破壞。為什麼改善人類狀況的善意計劃會悲劇性地出錯？在這本內容廣泛的原創書中，James C. Scott 分析了多個領域中大規模威權計劃的失敗案例。斯科特認為，集中管理的社會計劃會失靈，因為它們強加的圖式願景會對複雜的相互依存關係造成暴力，而這些相互依存關係沒有——也不能——被完全理解。此外，社會組織設計的成功依賴於對地方的實用知識與正式的認知知識同等重要的認識。作者建立了一個有說服力的案例來反對“發展理論”和無視其主體的價值觀、願望和反對意見的帝國主義國家計劃。他確定並討論了所有規劃災難共有的四個條件：國家對自然和社會的行政秩序；一種“高度現代主義的意識形態”，相信科學有能力改善人類生活的方方面面；願意使用威權國家權力進行大規模干預；以及無法有效抵制此類計劃的匍匐在地的公民社會。