Scott argues here that civilizational collapse does not necessarily mean worse living conditions for the population. In his view, historians tend to privilege eras characterized by monumental statist architecture. These bias was well stated by the poet Shelley in his poem Ozymandias which really captured the arrogance and absurd hubris of power.
Ozymandias
By Percy Bysshe Shelley (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/percy-bysshe-shelley)
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who saidTwo vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
As we see our civilization and country disintegratethink out-of-control climate alteration, rapidly declining living standards, rising infant mortality rates and declining life spanswe are seeing these early patterns of local collapse now recapitulated on a global scale.
Yet, as empires collapse into dark ages the subject populations find new possibilities for freedom. As Scott writes, collapse does not mean a dissolution of culture so much as its reformulation and decentralization and an improvement in human welfare.|
This examination of the fragility of early states leading to collapse, may give you some ideas about strategies for your own community survival. Here im thinking about simple things like local sourcing of food and the importance of community organizations apart from the state. Scott writes, Tribes begin where states end.
Please comment. Your writing may flow more easily if you can relate this material to your own contemporary situation.