Legibility: Difference between revisions

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{{def|Legibility|/ˌlɛdʒɪˈbɪlɪti/|n|}}
{{a|mgmt|}}{{d|Legibility|/ˌlɛdʒɪˈbɪlɪti/|n|}}
{{quote|I began to see legibility as a central problem in statecraft. The premodern.state was, in many crucial respects, par­tially blind; it knew precious little about its subjects, their wealth, their land-holdings and yields, their location, their very identity. It lacked anything like a detailed “map” of its terrain and its people. It lacked,for the most part, a measure, a metric, that would allow it to “trans­late” what it knew into a common standard necessary for a synoptic view. As a result, its interventions were often crude and self-defeating.
{{quote|I began to see legibility as a central problem in statecraft. The premodern state was, in many crucial respects, par­tially blind; it knew precious little about its subjects, their wealth, their land-holdings and yields, their location, their very identity. It lacked anything like a detailed “map” of its terrain and its people. It lacked,for the most part, a measure, a metric, that would allow it to “trans­late” what it knew into a common standard necessary for a synoptic view. As a result, its interventions were often crude and self-defeating.
:—{{author|James C. Scott}}, {{br|Seeing Like a State}}}}
:—{{author|James C. Scott}}, {{br|Seeing Like a State}}}}


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*[[Deep dive]]
*[[Deep dive]]
*{{author|James C. Scott}}’s {{br|Seeing Like a State}}
*{{author|James C. Scott}}’s {{br|Seeing Like a State}}
{{c|management}}

Revision as of 16:41, 31 December 2020

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Legibility
/ˌlɛdʒɪˈbɪlɪti/ (n.)

I began to see legibility as a central problem in statecraft. The premodern state was, in many crucial respects, par­tially blind; it knew precious little about its subjects, their wealth, their land-holdings and yields, their location, their very identity. It lacked anything like a detailed “map” of its terrain and its people. It lacked,for the most part, a measure, a metric, that would allow it to “trans­late” what it knew into a common standard necessary for a synoptic view. As a result, its interventions were often crude and self-defeating.

—James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State

See also

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