James C. Scott's Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed is an examination of state social engineering efforts to bring certain "outsiders" under their control.

According to the publisher's blurb,

One of the most important common factors that Scott found in these schemes is what he refers to as a high modernist ideology. In simplest terms, it is an extremely firm belief that progress can and will make the world a better place. But "scientific" theories about the betterment of life often fail to take into account "the indispensable role of practical knowledge, informal processes, and improvisation in the face of unpredictability" that Scott views as essential to an effective society. What high modernism lacks is metis, a Greek word which Scott translates as "the knowledge that can only come from practical experience." Although metis is closely related to the concept of "mutuality" found in the anarchist writings of, among others, Kropotkin and Bakunin, Scott is careful to emphasize that he is not advocating the abolition of the state or championing a complete reliance on natural "truth." He merely recognizes that some types of states can initiate programs which jeopardize the well-being of all their subjects.

I'm putting it on my reading list. I think we always have to respect the intelligence of people who are outsiders or whatever you want to call them. Their focus is on the practical, on what works and what does not.