Analysis Of Everyday Forms Of Resistance By James Scott

Imagine you are in the forest collecting sticks and twigs in an attempt to create some sort of sturdy object or, pillar that can withstand outside forces trying the break them. A single stick would likely break if you were to grab each end and try to bend it. If you were to add another twig it would take more force to break but, you would still be able to snap the sticks in half. As the analogy goes, the more sticks you add, the harder it becomes to bend and break the bundle. The same type of situation seems to be emphasized in James Scott’s article “Everyday Forms of Resistance”, in which the main idea keeps calling attention to the everyday forms of resistance demonstrated by lower class; the powerless individuals. In the text, the author

The idea that those who participate in these “everyday forms of resistance”, choose not to bring attention to themselves is also reinforced multiple times throughout the text. All these examples bring along questions that need to be answered: Where does power lie? Is this power narrowly or widely distributed? And, is power about formal political institutions or does it reside somewhere else? In James Scott’s writings about “Everyday Forms of Resistance”, he makes many points about power and where it may lie, even if the points are unintentional they provide a solid argument with great examples to back up those arguments. Scott argues that a vast realm of political action is overlooked for two reasons. The first reason is that it is not openly declared in the usually understood sense of “politics”. Second, the group action displayed is not how we normally understand collective action. From these two reasons, Scott suggested that arguments could be developed, stating that “much of the politics of subordinate groups fall into the category of “everyday forms of resistance”, these activities should most definitely be considered political.”” (Scott,