Please read the next three chapters of Walden two and then discuss the following.
What is the reason for Skinner writing this book?
How does Skinner portray social engineering?
What are the behavioral techniques Skinner is using in Walden Two?
Do you think some of the ideas Skinner is using in Walden Two would work in our society? Why or why not?
Please have this done before class on Tuesday if you can.
Let me know if you have any questions,
--Dr. M
I think there are many reasons why he wrote this book and many of them were discussed in our last class discussion. For starters he wanted to get his ideas out. He felt he had this important, amazing view of the world, of how it works and how it could work better. He wanted others to know about it. Maybe just for sake of knowing or maybe to try and make changes to our society. I think its safe to say he was hoping that such changes could be possible. He also may have written it because it clarified his theories in a way that a cold text book or research paper would fail to perfect. By writing a fiction novel he could reach people that would otherwise never know his work, maybe even his name. There was and always has been a love of books in our society, so really this was a good plan. Another idea is that it may have been to bring his ideas to life. He wanted to draw up an example of how it would work and what it would look like. This makes it easier for a person to understand and it makes it easier to accept. You can begin to piece together certain possibilites after reading this book.
I think Skinner believed that social engineering was the key to advancement. As far as I have read this book I have seen these words multiple times. Everything can be related back to social engineering. In Walden Two there have been a lot of changes in labor, free-time, and even meals in order to make things better for the individual and therefore for the society. According to Frazier, these were all a part of S.E. A great part of these three chapters focused on their work system. They were small industry styled, dairy work, wool, etc. One thing I noticed was how the book pointe out that Frazier, the guy in charge, the creater, actually knew so very little about how some things actually worked. In my opinion this points out a serious flaw in our own social makeup. Those that have credit for creating so much of what we have, the ones that call the shots, they often times only see the parts they want to see. Most of the details that actually go into the work are unseen. This was a very subtle thing, but I think Skinner was trying to say something about our current practice with social engineering. It may not quite be what I see, but it does serve some purpose.
As I mentioned a lot of these chapters focused on work as well as this idea of a golden age. Frazier discussed how in Walden Two, becuase of the way the work scchedules are created, anyone can become anything. His examples were musicians. They would have all the time in the world to become the musician they wanted to be. He was speaking of the importance of advancements in art, literature, and science. By manipulating the way people produce labor, he is changing their ability to add to society in more creative ways. Another small thing was how young individuals work on building their own living quarters. I found this to be very interesting. I can't remember the exact words, but Frazier somehow said that it was a big part of the love they felt. There is something great about creating your own home. A final thing that I caught and found to be very strange is their take on praise. When Mary was doing such a great job demonstrating no one gave her credit and she seemed to like it that way. It would appear that in Walden Two praise isn't held in a very positive light, but I may be jumping to conclusions.
I must say that Skinner had many great and wonderful ideas on how a society could run. He imagined a world where people got the most out of everything they did and the non-essentials were simply left out. While I do believe some of these things could take place in the world we live in, it would be highly ignorant of me to believe that we could ever create a true Walden Two of our own. Our society is stuck with itself. Because we have already fallen so far we could never become a place with those standards. We are too in love with long work days, the idea of money, the idea of individual control. The people that make up our world, specifically this nation, would never be able to do it. Maybe a couple hundred, maybe a few thousand, but it could never work for everybody.
I believe Skinner wrote this book as an example of how society could function without aversive stimuli. We discussed this in our last class discussion. He wanted to get this idea out to the public and if he couldn’t do it himself he wrote about it. When comparing this book to “Don’t shoot the dog” there are similarities. Both books were written to teach something. Pryor used real life examples and gave specific instructions on how to use conditioning. Skinner uses Walden Two to get his ideas and examples of social engineering across to readers.
Social engineering is portrayed in many different aspects. It’s a way to make life easier or less stressful. The book gives the example of how the sheep are fenced off by a string because over time they learned from an electric fence that was replaced by the string. The tea cups and plates were specifically designed to be easier to carry. The main buildings are all connected so if the weather is bad the people don’t have to go outside. Clothing is mass produced for the people in Walden two so everyone wears similar clothing; there are not brands or different styles. The meals are served for longer periods of time to accommodate people’s individual schedules. This way the facilities are constantly in use instead of everyone having a stove and only using it for 40 minutes a day. This way the kitchen equipment is constantly in use. This also leads to fewer workers to keep things running. Walden Two also has a specific number of vehicles. Instead of everyone having a car the community shares a smaller amount of vehicles. Work is also on a merit system so harder jobs are less hours and easy jobs are more hours. This way there is no exchange of currency the people just work to live there and everything is provided.
Because of the social engineering behaviors of individuals have changed. Because eating schedules are changed people can avoid crowds and specific schedules. I think the biggest behavioral technique that was mentioned was how people are allowed to learn instruments and have time to paint etc. If someone wants to sing in a group they are allowed. There is no competition or people telling them they aren’t good enough. The book explains that if the environment is presented and available the people will use it and prosper. There are the supplies and time to do different forms of artwork. The people use that and become very good at painting etc. If someone wants to learn an instrument they can be taught by someone. Walden Two removed external pressures and competition to be better and out of that the people are good at what they do.
I believe if everyone in society was willing to change then Skinners ideas could work. The main problem would be transferring everyone from the stressful pressured world to the social engineered world. We have lived in this kind of society with jails, criminals, competition, and jealousy forever. In order to switch to a Walden Society it would be extremely difficult. It could be possible, anything’s possible but it would take a long time to make the transfer because we are so used to the way we live now. Walden seems to be a perfect world without completion and jealousy. If it were possible to make it a reality I believe it would be a much easier lifestyle for everyone.
I believe Skinner’s primary reason for writing this book was to show his audience a way of life outside of democracy, competition, stereotypes/clichés, and other cultural behaviors and situations that lead away from personal creativity. In Walden Two, Skinner has created a world that allows each individual to express their own creativity and follow their own desires without the scrutinizing and critisim of others. He has created a world that is not run by a handful of political leaders but, rather, is run by every member of the community doing their part. Walden Two does not have classes or social standings and does not judge one person against another the way our culture does today. He has taken away the commercialism that comes with our society and given us the idea of a world prepped to become the next “Golden Age”. Through Walden Two, Skinner has created a world that is run efficiently and productively without the struggles that come from a 40-hour work week and the pressures of being “good enough”.
By writing this book Skinner has showed us the way our world could be without these negativities and how much more creative we could be. By writing it in a story form he captures his audience as he puts us into the world of Walden Two and he shows us, through examples, how a different attidude could work and be beneficial to society.
Skinner portrays social engineering in every example he gives in Walden Two. The idea of a 24 hour work week allows the community members the freedom to spend the rest of their day at their choosing. Following the popular fashion trends is not seen as necessary and, therefore, people are no longer judged by their clothing. An artist is given praise for all works of art and his talent grows quickly as he is given the time and the support to follow his intuition. There is no longer a set schedule for meal times, play times, or work times; rather, each individual is given freedom with the expectation that they will put in their part towards the community. It is these changes in behavior and ideas of what is “right” that influences how the people of Walden Two think. The more you read of Walden Two, the more easily it is to see that the people there do not have the same critical judgements that we often carry, or the same high stress levels for that matter. It is a much more free flowing community which has given rise to a much more creative community.
I feel the most important behavioral technique that Skinner uses is allowing each person to think and act on their own. The members of Walden Two are never given a certain way to think, certain way to feel, or certain way to act, the way that our society often does. They are allowed to tap into their creativeness and are encouraged, rather than discouraged, for their uniqueness and willingness to try something new. This has allowed Walden Two to advance the way it has and bring forth many ideas and inventions that are unheard of even in a society as advanced as our own. There is no pressure in Walden Two and no expectations which has allowed the people there to become who they are truly meant to be.
I believe that the thoughts and ideas that Skinner has implemented in Walden Two are amazing. He has created a society that is about as close to perfection as you can get. However, though I feel this society is truly idealistic, I do not feel that it is realistic. Our society has for far too many centuries been power-driven and focused on wealth. We would never be able to have a society, made up of our entire population, that does not have a greedy member that wants to be above the others. We also will not have a society that does not have members that work too hard or members that don’t work hard enough and live off others. In my opinion, we are far too embedded in our current ways to be able to switch to a society that follows the ideas of Walden Two.
I believe that Skinner wrote this book because he had a vision of what society could be like and he wanted to share that with a large audience. I think that Skinner saw many occurances world in terms psycholoigal phenomenon, and saw that it could be improved. In his world he got rid of punishment, made life more enjoyable. In Walden Two life is less about what you have to do rather then what you want to do. Everybody is happy to contribute to the community, and gets a fair representation of "earnings" for what they contribute. By writing this book, he was able to get his ideas out to a larger majority then he would have been able to in any other media of the time. I think that on some level Skinner was hoping that people would think that his ideas were good ideas and possibly use some of them. By writing it the way that he does, he seems to draw the reader in by saying isn't this nice, don't you wish that you could live in this kind of society. It is only after the reader sees some of the benifits does Skinner start talking about how it works. Whether or not Skinner actually thought that our society could be run like this is debateable.
Skinner portrays social engineering as the only way to have a better society. By calling Walden Two a utopia, he is calling it a paridise, and perfection. He often references the changes made as social engineering, in a sense saying that if you wnat to live in a perfect society, these are the changes you need to make.
As the society changed, people were able to change their behaviors. Instead of having to devote a majority of their time to work, they are able to spend that time on hobbies, and things that they enjoy. Burris wonders if great ability is due to genes. Frazier says no, the great ability is because people have the time to spend on their craft, to practice and to become great. Also, people are very appreciative of others talents. The community really seems to support the other members of the community.
In theory a community like Walden Two would work, as it does in this book, but in reality I don't think it would. One of the biggest changes for the people of the society is to give up the want of unnecessary things. Our society is built around obtaining these things. People go to school so they can get higher paying jobs, why, because our society tells them they need this stuff. Is it really necessary to have a giant wardrobe of clothing? No, but society tells us that that is better then only having a few outfits. Or famous people that have houses with 50 bedrooms and 40 bathrooms. Are they ever going to need all of these? Probably not, unless they have their entire extended family over for a holiday. Even as children we are taught that the way to gain social status is to have the best whatever. That could be the hottest toy, a brand of clothing, or even shoes. I think that it is so deep rooted into our culture that it would take many, many years of working toward this society before it would ever be achievable. As for the way work is divided, it goes against our entire structure for a society to be run, so again it is probably not achievable.
Walden Chapter 9-11
As Skinner continues to describe Walden Two in more detail, there are several interesting connections that can be made to our current society and economic structure.
The agriculture practices in Walden Two are an excellent example of social engineering that would decrease waste and increase worker productivity if implemented in our society. The Walden Two residents seek out farmers outside Walden Two who have too large crop to harvest and work out a deal to harvest on shares. By doing this they collect enough crops to supply them for the next year after they process and store it. This is a solution to a problem seen in our society, even in our own small gardens, where we can be easily overwhelmed with produce that we do not have time to harvest or prepare for storage. It is often seen on a much larger scale with farming. This was evident last winter with the early heavy snow where many farmers were unable to harvest their corn. It sat in the fields under the snow, resulting in decreased yields. There is so much waste in our society and it is sad to think this book has had no effect on things like that.
Society would benefit from having more workers do varied jobs, as they do in Walden Two. There are many jobs that are “seasonal”, like retail, construction, agriculture, tax preparers, etc. Instead of having seasonal workers unemployed much of the year they could band together to increase productivity and decrease waste, as in the agriculture example. Our society is not efficient, and these types of jobs often have few rewards such as stability, insurance, or benefits. In many cases this hire/fire process also makes the worker go through the grueling process of re-applying every year. Even for those in society without stereotypical seasonal jobs, there are slower times of the year or day when productivity is not high, and at those times, if other tasks could be found for the worker, as in Walden Two, productivity could be increased.
An interesting behavioral response supported by the community at Walden Two is the way their culture encourages the arts by having the right conditions. In Walden Two the arts bloom and many artists thrive. This is unlike our culture where there are very few good positions for artists, whether musical or visual, and the remainder have to survive doing something else for a living. The conditions that encourage the arts are leisure, opportunity and appreciation. These conditions are part of the basic arrangement of Walden’s society.
Being an artist myself I enjoy this aspect of Walden Two and do agree that the conditions they have do encourage the arts. One can argue that one can practice the arts in her spare time; however, there is often not enough of it when one must work forty plus hours a week. In many cases, one is quite drained at the end of the day; this does not result in the best conditions to create art.
Walden Two seems to have an equal appreciation for all artists; they do not associate only certain ones with fame and financial success. The posters are an example of this. The posters that display the schedule of music events are small and plain. The community does not select only certain artists to create a flashy, larger poster. The society does not need extravagant advertisements to sway viewers to attend one show or another. Frazier states that these posters produce excitement and that is a conditioned reflex. It allows the spectator to choose based more on the content rather than the advertising presentations, which can often be misleading. Frazier also notes that even amateur shows have significant attendance as many other amateurs go to learn from, and support, their peers.
The concerts are also quite short, unlike in our society where concerts often are such big events costing so much money. Our society does not often have the opportunity for nightly concerts and because our few entertainers are paid quite a bit. To implement this change in our society we would need to change from having a few elite popular performers to having many.
Frazier calls Walden Two “a Golden Age” for the arts and says it is out of reach for our society, that we would not be able to manipulate the environment as would be required to encourage the arts. Unfortunately, I agree with Frazier and cannot fathom this being implemented in a large scale in our society as we do not have a great appreciation of the arts. For example, art and music are the first programs cut in education when budget cuts are called for. It is disappointing that so much of the talent in our society is unappreciated. In Walden Two they would always get to enjoy a voice like Susan Boyle’s, society would not have to wait until she, and society, was lucky enough for her to appear on a nation-wide talent show.
It seems clear from the readings so far that one of Skinner’s main themes is to show how inefficient our society is. In the last few chapters he compares Walden’s system of agriculture with current practices. He also looks at usual work methods. He is critical of all of the time wasted when work is slow, the hectic busy times where there is not enough help; we do not moderate work processes well in our society.
He is also critical of how much of life we miss out on because work takes up the majority of our time. He describes Walden Two as a society where the residents have time to enjoy the arts and the outdoors. As a modern society, we have not shortened the work day as they did in Walden Two, we also can’t keep everyone employed.
One possible weakness of Walden Two is how dependent the individual is on the community. We are dependent on our society as well, but it has the advantage of being large, controlled by a government with laws to protect us. Current society has proven itself stable. Walden Two is too new to have done these things, and its members are at the mercy of those in charge. They are very trusting. If it failed its residents would have no home, no retirement, no job; their training would mean nothing in our society. With the great variety of human nature, with sociopaths and greed, I would not trust a leader or group of leaders of a small society. This mistrust is reinforces by the way Frazier is described; the way Burris describes his behavior suggests something dark about him. For all the positives in Walden Two, I would be leery of joining with Frazier at the helm.
While I am intrigued by many of the foundations of Walden Two, I do not believe many of the ideas in Walden Two could be implemented in our society. I will admit a bias that I am pessimistic about our society’s ability to change for the better. Our society rewards greed, status, pushing others down in order to move up. We have been conditioned this way for so long, it is the basis for a capitalist society. Our motivators are fame, wealth, and status. Those motivations do not exist in Walden Two. We would have to completely re-learn how to interact in our society. I do not think that is realistic, even using behavioral analysis to structure society.
In my opinion, Skinner wrote this book because he an idea of what society could/should be. This is called social realism. In the mind of Skinners world, there was no punishment which made life easier on everybody and improved happiness. He gets rid of the mindset of what you want to do, only what you need to do to survive. I think Skinner was so excited about this ideas in this other world that he expected everyone to like his ideas and to agree with him. Skinner wrote this book in a way that was intriguing to the audience, and made them wish they could live in a world like this, rather than pointing out what NEEDS to be changed to achieve this goal.
It seems social engineering attempts to place limits on human behaviors and attitudes and constraint on free will. Skinner has always denied free will existed and that the closest that any individual could come to true freedom is a situation where the person is not aware of the social engineering control systems around them. Skinner makes a case for behaviorism and "social engineering" as the solution to many of the world's problems. He shows it as the the only way to have/make a better society. Basically "Utopia" means perfection, happiness, and simplicity.
I noticed how the Utopian Society acts upon the behavioral technique praise. Mary was doing demonstrating a new stitch to some Walden Two members, Burris takes note that no one gave her praise. It seemed as if that were normal within the society, and that people were okay with it. There are no competitions in the society and arts and leisure are encouraged among the citizens. There is no aversive techniques used in this society; if there were, it would not end up being a pleasant society.
Although I am interested in the Utopian society, I do not think it would work well in our society today. within our society, we get rewarded on many of the 'wrong' things. For example, SES status, wealth, and greed. We are not in the right mindset of giving up necessary things. The word 'want' is more common in our daily vocabulary than is 'need.' We are motivated by what others have and what we wish to have. We believe these things will make us happy, but it is never enough. What is weird is that I am watching "how the lottery changed my life" on t.v. right now. These people believe word won't get out about their winnings, and by not spending it on luxurious things, they will be happy. That is not always the case. Some get harassed by letters, boxes, and threats; mainly because others want/ask for that money. This one guy was a bell man for 7 years. He always got praised for his work and was the best one there. Once he won the lottery, he decided not to spend it until it is NEEDED. After his boss found out about his winnings, suddenly his work wasn't good enough after those 7 years. I am not sure what happened to him. I assume he was still working there.
I believe Skinner wrote this book in an attempt to introduce his ideas on behavioral engineering to the public. He wanted to demonstrate how a group of people could form a utopian community by simplifying their lifestyles and by abolishing the use of punishment. Overall, I believe Skinner wanted to demonstrate how using behavioral techniques to manipulate the contingencies of reward can lead to a happier and functional population.
Skinner portrays social engineering as the cure to everything that is wrong in society. Frazier is constantly explaining to his guests how every small change he has implemented has drastically improved moral and efficiency in Walden II. For example, a string has replaced the electric fence that used to contain the sheep in their pasture because the sheep were conditioned to avoid the string over time. This reduces energy and labor needed to move the sheep in their pasture. Other examples include designing schedules for recreation and dining, thus avoiding crowds and lightening the workload by using clear-glass lunch trays, making unclean trays much easier to spot. Skinner wants to show that if we begin to use behavioral techniques like those used in Walden II, our own lives may become simpler and more meaningful.
Although the utopian community depicted in Walden II appears very functional and idealistic, I believe most the world's population might look down upon this sort of community as a type of cult. Their practices would quickly be scrutinized and alienated by what we consider to be modern society. The benefits of their simplified lifestyle would be overlooked because of their communal buildings and similar clothing. Although many of the main practices of the community in Walden II would be rejected by our society, I believe some of the smaller steps taken by Frazier (such as the clear dining trays or the tea cups) have grand implications for how we might attempt to reduce work load and increase desirability in some of our more menial positions of employment.
I think that Skinner wrote this book to show everyone how an ideal utopian society would function. In this book he demonstrates a society that functions without punishment and how they do it. I believe Skinner wanted to get us thinking about the possibility of implementing a lot of these ideas into real life. As we read this book we ask ourselves, is this lifestyle achievable? In society today can we function without punishment and only use reinforcement? He sparks a lot of questions with his readers; at least he has for me. It seems like all of these thoughts about how to create this perfect world were running through his head and he decided to put it on paper. And good for him, but in a way it’s as if he wants his readers to conform to his beliefs. Perhaps he thinks that the more people he can get to believe that achieving a utopian society is possible, the more likely that it will one day happen.
The functioning of Walden Two is the prime example of social engineering. This is a simplified society; everything runs smooth and is much easier. Social engineering makes life much less stressful at Walden Two and there are many examples of this in day-to-day life. The buildings all being connected to avoid bad weather, staggered dining hours to avoid lines, a 24 work schedule to allow for more free time, using string to hold the sheep instead of fencing are all examples of social engineering. Also, everyone wears similar clothing to avoid judgment and artists are rewarded for their talent by being allowed to decorate various parts of building. These are small things that are changed in this society that make a huge difference and the list could go on. So far, every part of Walden Two reflects social engineering.
The text doesn’t come out and directly say what behavioral techniques are being used. By reading, I would say positive reinforcement would be the main one. By giving people more free time, less stress, etc. they are reinforced to live this simplified lifestyle. By wearing a certain type of clothing, they avoid judgment… positive reinforcement. An artist is reinforced by being allowed to design and decorate. Again, the list goes on. There are also behavioral techniques that are not being used in Walden Two for example, punishment or negative reinforcement. We never see any of these types of aversive stimuli.
I think a lot of the ideas Skinner is using in Walden Two wouldn’t work in our society… some of them, yes but most of them, no. I don’t think we would ever get people to dress similar. People strive to be unique and love using the way they dress as a way to express themselves. It would also be hard to avoid bad weather… connecting buildings is kind of unrealistic. To achieve a lot of Skinner’s ideas everyone would have to comply. However, small things in our society could change. The example we used in class was putting a piece of paper on fast food trays to avoid washing them. Also, I think it would be impossible to have a society without punishment. We could try to lessen the amount of punishment we used but I don’t think there would ever be a way to eliminate prisons, for example. Although living in a utopian society would be quite lovely, I think it is an unattainable goal for our society today.
Overall I think that Skinner wrote this book in order to get his views and ideals out into the public. First off, I feel that Skinner chose a fiction novel because of its overall universality. What I mean is that the majority of the public dose not know and or understand how to read psychology articles so the book would be able to reach more people. The overall aspect of a Utopian society can only be explained in a fiction novel (because it dose not exist). This allows readers to understand that the Walden society through their own views and ideas. Being able to draw aspects of the book and apply it to their own lives is more likely to happen with a fiction novel. I feel that Skinner had a grand vision of how he wanted the world to work (based on his research) and need a creative outlet to explain and describe his vision.
In my opinion the overall goal of social engineering is to evaluate and make life tasks easier. There are many examples of social engineering in the chapters of Walden Two that Skinner used to describe the Utopian society. The first examples that come to mind are from the first 5 chapters I read. The Sheep fence, interconnectivity of the buildings and the tea cups. All serve as an effective way to make life easier, the sheep learn without being shocked all of the time, the buildings connect so bad weather can be avoided and the tea cups have handles so they are easier to carry. Another way social engineering is demonstrated would be staggered schedule. Food/work had staggered schedules in order to be free of an institutional atmosphere. The schedules allow members to choose when they want to eat and or relax during the day. The work payment was conducted in labor credits. The undesirable jobs gave more credits to the worker because no one wanted to do the job and it needs to be done. This might give people freedom to chose a way to help the community and be happy while they do it/get rewarded for it. Another benefit from the credit payment would be that personal jealousy dose not exist as a result of no paper money.
I feel that the most effective technique used would have to be the freedom to choose whatever you wanted to do, whenever you wanted to do it. So positive reinforcement would be the overall technique used in the novel. The pressure to make a lot of money is not present so people are able to discover what they enjoy doing and are not forced to preform the task for most of the work week. Other positive reinforcement occurs in creative outlet examples. The freedom to choose creative outlets gives the artist, actor or musician ways for the community to see and hear their passions. The pride of the creator and community acceptance of their work would positively reinforce the artist to keep creating.
Overall I do not think the Walden world would not work in our society. The world we live in today is powered by one thing, and that is MONEY! In order for this type of society to become established everything we do would have to change. The work system would have to be restructured where trade and pay would not exist. I feel if the Walden system was in place cities would have to regress back to towns in order for the system to work. In conclusion it is not in human nature to live in harmony so the illusion of a perfect society can only work in the book’s style and is in reality just fiction.