Living Walden Two

by KUHLMANN, HILKE

• ISBN13: 9780252029622
• ISBN10: 0252029623
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780252091650
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-05-04
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

In Walden Two, behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner describes one of the most controversial fictional utopias of the twentieth century. During the 1960s and 70s, this novel went on to inspire approximately three dozen actual communities, which are entertainingly examined in Hilke Kuhlmann's Living Walden Two.In the novel, behavioral engineers use positive reinforcement in organizing and "gently guiding" all aspects of society, leaving the rest of the citizens "free" to lead happy and carefree lives. Among the real-world communities, a recurrent problem in moving past the planning stages was the nearly ubiquitous desire among members to be gentle guides, coupled with strong resistance to being guided.In an insightful and often hilarious narrative, Hilke Kuhlmann explores the dynamics of the communities, with an in-depth examination of the two surviving Skinnerian communities: Comunidad Los Horcones in Mexico, and Twin Oaks in Virginia. Drawing on extensive interviews with the founders and key players in the Walden Two communities, Kuhlmann redefines the criteria for their success by focusing on the tension between utopian blueprints for a new society and communal experiments' actual effects on individual lives.Hilke Kuhlmann is an assistant professor in the American Studies program at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

Author Biography

Hilke Kuhlmann is an assistant professor in the American Studies program at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	ix
Part 1: B.F. Skinner's Walden Two
1. Walden Two: A Behaviorist Utopia	3	(19)
2. Behavioral Psychology and the Design of Society	22	(9)
3. Skinner's Utopian Vision and the Issue of Control	31	(12)
Part 2: The Reception of Walden Two a-nong Behaviorists
4. The Road Not Taken: Skinner, Experimental Communalism, and Token Economies	43	(8)
5. Sunflower House	51	(4)
6. Lake Village	55	(14)
7. Walden Three	69	(12)
Part 3: Twin Oaks Community and the Heyday of the Communities Movement
8. The Early Days of Twin Oaks Community	81	(11)
9. The Planner-Manager System	92	(10)
10. The Communal Child-Care Program	102	(4)
11. The Labor-Credit System	106	(5)
12. The Appeal of the Labor-Credit System for the Communities Movement; or, What Communards Meant When They Said Walden Two	111	(11)
13. Why People Leave	122	(13)
Part 4: Comunidad Los Horcones: Utopia in the Desert
14. Mexican Contexts	135	(9)
15. Education	144	(5)
16. The Economic Structure	149	(1)
17. Leadership and Decision Making	150	(8)
18. Behaviorism as Religion	158	(5)
Conclusion	163	(8)
Appendix: Interviews	171	(64)
Works Cited	235	(6)
Index	241