Could Walden Two Be an Anarchist Society?
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Could Walden Two Be an Anarchist Society? Carlos Eduardo Lopes 1,2 Accepted: 1 October 2020/ # Association for Behavior Analysis International 2020
Abstract In his autobiography, Skinner states that Walden Two was an anarchist society because no person was in control and the community was planned in such a way that institutions were not needed. Based on that statement, this article aims to evaluate an anarchist interpretation of Walden Two. The text is divided into 3 parts. The first part presents a definition of anarchism, covering its criticism of domination and a defense of selfmanaged society (anarchy). In the second part, some convergence points of Walden Two and anarchism are indicated in 3 social spheres (economic, political, and cultural). The last part analyzes the divergences between the community described in Walden Two and an anarchist society, with an emphasis on the issue of Walden Two’s political inequality. It is concluded that the divergences between Walden Two and anarchism are decisive and prevent the community described in Skinner’s book from being classified as an anarchist one, and, therefore, they counter Skinner’s own statement. Keywords Anarchism . Ideology . Politics . Walden Two
Discussing some criticisms addressed to the society described in his novel, Walden Two (Skinner, 1948/2005), Skinner (1983/1984b) made an intriguing statement in the third volume of his autobiography: When … I called myself a benign anarchist … someone said that that was not like the dictatorship of Walden Two. But Walden Two was anarchistic. No person was in control. The community was designed in such a way that police, clergy, entrepreneurs, teachers, and therapists were not needed. (p. 426)
* Carlos Eduardo Lopes [email protected]
1
Department of Psychology, State University of Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790 - Jd. Universitário, Maringá, PR CEP 87020-900, Brazil
2
Behavior Analysis Graduate Program, State University of Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brazil
Behavior and Social Issues
This declaration brings two contributions to an interpretation of the sociopolitical commitments of the Skinnerian proposal. First, it indicates that Walden Two would be a pivotal source for this type of investigation. That is endorsed by Skinner’s continuous mention of Walden Two as a political model (e.g., Skinner, 1982, 1988, 1989), and by the fact that Walden Two remains a topic of discussion and sometimes a source of inspiration for behavior analysts, especially when they turn to sociopolitical issues (e.g., Abernathy, 2009; Altus, 2013; Altus & Morris, 2009; Benson, 2017; Mattaini & Aspholm, 2016; Molina, Deochand, & McGee, 2019; Rakos, 2006). Second, in the aforementioned quote, Skinner explicitly affiliates Walden Two with anarchism, thus indicating that his proposal would be in tune with this political ideology. Given these points, this article aims to systematically analyze the possibility of an anarchist interpretation of Walden Two. The article is divided into three parts. The first presents a definition of anarchism, c
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