James C. Scott | |
|---|---|
 Scott in 2016 | |
| Born | James Campbell Scott December 2, 1936 Mount Holly, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | July 19, 2024 (aged 87) Durham, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Spouse |
Louise Glover Goehring
(m. 1961; died 1997) |
| Partner | Anna Tsing (1999–2024; his death) |
| Children | 3 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Political science, anthropology |
| Institutions | |
| Doctoral students | Ben Kerkvliet Melissa Nobles Erik Ringmar John Sidel Eric Tagliacozzo Elizabeth F. Cohen |
| Part of a series on |
| Political and legal anthropology |
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| Social and cultural anthropology |
James Campbell Scott (December 2, 1936 – July 19, 2024) was an American political scientist and anthropologist specializing in comparative politics. He was a comparative scholar of agrarian and non-state societies.
Trained as a political scientist, Scott's scholarship discussed peasant societies, state power, and political resistance. From 1968 to 1985, Scott wrote influentially on agrarian politics in peninsular Malaysia.[1] While he retained a lifelong interest in Southeast Asia and peasantries, his later works ranged across many topics: quiet forms of political resistance, the failures of state-led social transformation, techniques used by non-state societies to avoid state control, commonplace uses of anarchist principles, and the rise of early agricultural states. His posthumous book, In Praise of Floods, is expected to be published in February 2025.[2] The New York Times described his research as "highly influential and idiosyncratic".[3]
Scott received his bachelor's degree from Williams College and his MA and PhD in political science from Yale. He taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison until 1976 and then at Yale, where he was Sterling Professor of Political Science. In 1991, he became director of Yale's Program in Agrarian Studies.[4] At the time of his death, The New York Times described Scott as among the most widely read social scientists.[5]
- ^ Schuessler, Jennifer (December 5, 2012). "James C. Scott: Farmer and Scholar of Anarchism". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ^ Khym, Emily (August 1, 2024). "A "genius, giant and generous scholar": Remembering professor James C. Scott GRD '63 GRD '67". Yale Daily News. Retrieved August 24, 2024.
- ^ Schuessler, Jennifer (December 4, 2012). "James C. Scott, Farmer and Scholar of Anarchism". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
- ^ "Academic Prize 2010, Award Citation". Fukuoka Prize. 2010. Archived from the original on August 20, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ^ Gabriel, Trip (July 28, 2024). "James C. Scott, Iconoclastic Social Scientist, Dies at 87". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 28, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.