Question

Discuss Skinner's ideas for a utopian society as described in Walden Two. Why do you think the book was so controversial when it was published? Do you think his ideas for society are applicable today, or are they still controversial?

Answer 1

• B. F. Skinner's had a utopian vision for enhancing social justice and human well-being.
• Utopia as explained by Skinner allows people to be in control of their own lives.  
• It is doing what you want because you want to and working hard at your job because it is what you have a passion for.
• It focuses upon developing and maintaining social relationships with people rather than focusing on negative things like war.
• It focuses on a life that is simplistic and does not measures a person's life in terms of how many materialistic things they own but the content they have in life with the people around them.
• He saw the social inequalitiesand the violence, of his day and decided to change his world through “behavioral engineering”.
• According to Skinner,individual is shaped by genetic endowment. The experiences inform how the individual makes choices, responds to the environment, and even plans for the future.
• To have a perfect society in todays time,according to Skinner the choice is ours either we do nothing and allow catasrophy to take over the world and us or we use our knowledge and experiences to create a social environment in which we shall live productive and creative lives.
• Utopian world according to Skinner can be created through behaviour modification by postive and negative reinforcement which would help in creating a world that focuses on developing positive human experiences.