James C. Scott, scholar of anarchism and resistance to authority, dies at 87 [Video]

James C. Scott, a scholar of political science whose groundbreaking books and research explored how subtle acts of resistance can develop into potent challenges to authority, died July 19 at his home in Durham, Connecticut. He was 87.

The death was announced by Yale University, where Scott was a professor of political science and anthropology before retiring in 2021. Scott’s son, Aaron, did not note a specific cause.

Scott’s scholarship was diverse and often intellectually provocative. In several books, he described how rural communities in Southeast Asia fought modernization pressures and rules by central authorities. In other works, he asserted that big government programs can sometimes unintentionally harm the people they sought to help.

He also celebrated small rule-breaking gestures such as jaywalking and loitering in his 2012 book, “Two Cheers for Anarchism,” as a kind of defiance training in case a major protest movement is needed.

The binding themes …