I recommend the book "Seeing Like a State" by James C. Scott: >Scott shows how central governments attempt to force legibility on their subjects, and fail to s

I recommend the book "Seeing Like a State" by James C. Scott: >Scott shows how central governments attempt to force legibility on their subjects, and fail to see complex, valuable forms of local social order and knowledge. A main theme of this book, illustrated by his historic examples, is that states operate systems of power toward 'legibility' in order to see their subjects correctly in a top-down, modernist, model that is flawed, problematic, and often ends poorly for subjects. The goal of local legibility by the state is transparency from the top down, from the top of the tower or the center/seat of the government, so the state can effectively operate upon their subjects. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State#:~:text=Seeing%20Like%20a%20State%3A%20How,accordance%20with%20purported%20scientific%20laws https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State#:~:text=....