An extraordinary thinker, a supporter of qualitative methods in sociology, J. Scott, in his book, which caused a stormy scientific and public response, explores the reasons for the collapse of large state modernization projects - from scientific forestry in Germany, total urban planning in the spirit of Le Corbusier and collectivization in the USSR to the forced resettlement of Tanzanians into villages. Revealing the reasons for failures in their implementation, the author highlights simplifications inherent in public administration, fundamental shortcomings of the ideology of high modernism, threats and risks associated with the activities of an authoritarian state in a weakened civil society, which lead to a violation of the organic nature of social life and ignoring real experience. Emphasizing the role of practical knowledge, informal processes and innovations in living, unpredictable development, the author contrasts formal bureaucratic knowledge and utopian projects based on it with a fundamentally different paradigm of public administration, implying the reciprocity of social action of various social groups and the state in the creation of social order. This new paradigm is of significant interest to all those responsible for reforms in modern Russia, because, as J. Scott believes, “the conclusions that can be drawn from the failures of modernist social engineering projects also apply to market-driven standardization...”