Overview

""A splendid study, surely one of the most important that has appeared on the whole matter of power and resistance.""--Natalie Zemon Davis Confrontations between the powerless and powerful are laden with deception--the powerless feign deference and the powerful subtly assert their mastery. Peasants, serfs, untouchables, slaves, laborers, and prisoners are not free to speak their minds in the presence of power. These subordinate groups instead create a secret discourse that represents a critique of power spoken behind the backs of the dominant. At the same time, the powerful also develop a private dialogue about practices and goals of their rule that cannot be openly avowed. In this book, renowned social scientist James C. Scott offers a penetrating discussion both of the public roles played by the powerful and powerless and the mocking, vengeful tone they display off stage--what he terms their public and hidden transcripts. Using examples from the literature, history, and politics of cultures around the world, Scott examines the many guises this interaction has taken throughout history and the tensions and contradictions it reflects.

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9798228017665

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Reviews

""A classic work of theory in the social sciences and history. Its arguments are original, subtle, clear, and accessible to readers without theoretical inclinations."" -- ""Journal of Asian Studies"" ""A major contribution to the study of social and political change."" -- ""Choice"" ""Advanc[es] scholarship and produc[es] interesting, even fascinating, insights and other provocations."" -- ""Indochina Chronology"" ""From his vantage point it is easy to see through many standard illusions of social science...An example of how rich and fascinating such hidden transcripts can be by comparison with the rhetoric of pretence."" -- ""Times Literary Supplement (London)"" ""Scott's central innovation in this work is his distinction between public transcripts...and hidden transcripts...An important contribution to the study of the politics and lived experience of power."" -- ""Political Theory"" ""An amazingly prodigious, sophisticated book."" -- ""American Quarterly""

""An amazingly prodigious, sophisticated book."" -- ""American Quarterly"" ""Scott's probing analysis of the roots of 'counterhegemonic discourse' is a major contribution to the study of social and political change."" -- ""Choice""

Author Information

James C. Scott (1936-2024) was an American political scientist, anthropologist, and author. His many books include Seeing Like a State, Agrarian Studies, The Art of Not Being Governed, and Against the Grain. He was Sterling Professor of Political Science and professor emeritus of anthropology at Yale University. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was awarded several resident fellowships, including at MIT. In 2020, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society. Alex Boyles has been acting pretty much his entire life. He got his BA in theater-acting/directing performance from CSU Long Beach and his MFA in acting performance from Ohio State University. He started narrating audiobooks in 2019 and hasn't looked back!

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