Domination and the Arts of Resistance

Domination and the Arts of Resistance

By James C. Scott
Unabridged
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“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)

“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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  1. Odin
    Overall Liked it

    A rare look at the struggle art has in staying a viable improvement to life.

    This is a book that author Scott has chosen to examine art history through the window of considerable and consistent struggle of class conflict and the politics of stubborn resistance in a mixed world of opinions about whether art is flourishing or dying from famine. Scott has given us a fresh and persuasive, even though it was written several decades back. The perspective allows us to see and hear a great deal of lasting patterns. The book is not without its controversy in that it is not really organized according the chromicized history, but as relevant points throughout the history of art. Many may find the book more philosophical than history of art fo resistance. Still, well worth listening to Boyles authentic sounding voicing of the various aspects.

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