Walden Zwei

Walden Two is a science fiction novel written by behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner and first published in 1948. In that novel, the author describes an experimental community named Walden Two. The community is located in a rural area and "has nearly a thousand members." The members are portrayed as happy, productive, and creative. The community encourages its members "to view every habit and custom with an eye to possible improvement" and to have "a constantly experimental attitude toward everything". When the members find a problem in their community they may design and experimentally test a possible solution, carefully documenting the results of their experiment in accordance with the scientific method. If the results of their testing indicates that the proposed solution would be an improvement over their current cultural practices then they may make that experimentally validated improvement into a component of their community's culture. This cultural optimization process is called "cultural engineering."

In the preface of the revised, 1976 edition of Walden Two, the author critically examines contemporary American culture, noting that cities have become unmanageably large and that the over-consumption of resources is causing pollution. He writes, "It is now widely recognized that great changes must be made in the American way of life." Then he asserts that, "The choice is clear: either we do nothing and allow a miserable and probably catastrophic future to overtake us, or we use our knowledge about human behavior to create a social environment in which we shall live productive and creative lives and do so without jeopardizing the chances that those who follow us will be able to do the same." What kind of new "social environment" might be created to avoid a "catastrophic future"? The author concludes by suggesting that, "Something like a Walden Two would not be a bad start."

Walden Two challenges contemporary U.S. social conventions such as the value of modern education, the effectiveness of university professors, excessive work volume, and posits a planned economy, critical of inefficient capitalism. The community's government is not democratic. Planners and Managers govern the community and require only four daily hours of work from each person and promote the arts and applied scientific research. The community subscribes to a code of conduct based upon, and supported by, behaviorism. Children are reared communally by trained behavior specialists, outside the nuclear family, and loyalty to community, instead of the family, is encouraged.

Walden Two is controversial for its rejection of democracy as effective government, viable socialist economy, an atheist society, the narrow range of available emotional expression, its appeal to dictators and to emulators of T.E. Frazier, the emotionally unstable protagonist.

The plot

Six visitors arrive at a thousand-person community then ten years old. A decade earlier, T.E. Frazier wrote an article asking people join him in founding a community based on philosopher H. D. Thoreau's ideas. Two soldiers, returned from the war, seek Frazier, and enlist Professor Burris's help; he finds and communicates with Frazier, then joins the visit to the community. Prof. Burris invites Prof. Augustine Castle, and, with the two soldiers, Rogers and Steve Jamnick, and their girlfriends, Mary Grove and Barbara Macklin, they visit Walden Two.

The focus of the story evolves primarily toward the dialogue between Frazier, Prof. Castle, and Prof. Burris, each reflecting their own philosophical and practical concerns about the design and structure of the community. At story's end, one couple stay in the community, while the other visitors leave, however, in a sudden change of heart, Prof. Burris quits his university post and returns to the rural community.

Other utopias

The rural utopia of Walden Two is contemporary, not in the future, and is accessible via a bus-and-car journey, unlike Thomas More’s Utopia with only a single entrance and exit from the island society. In the introduction, B.F. Skinner says his reasons for writing Walden Two were personal: he read New Atlantis, by Francis Bacon, on being told that William Shakespeare was Sir Francis Bacon , and his desire to describe an interesting Heaven. The other utopias mentioned in the novel are Erewhon and Looking Backward.

The community

Walden Two describes a small, thousand-person planned community based upon the community posited by H. D. Thoreau and behavioural psychology. Frazier and five others are the governing Planners. The community is self-sufficient, emulating the self-sufficiency of the Walden utopia, and to allow for the experimental control of the community, as a pilot scientific experiment, however, the way things are done is changeable, if the evidence favours change.

The members

The community are happy, productive, and creative; happiness derives from the promotion of rich social relationships and family life, free affection, the creation of art, music, and literature, opportunity for games of chess and tennis, and ample rest, food, and sleep. The community is self-governed; the members subscribe to the Walden Code of self-control techniques, which allow maintaining a happy, productive life in Walden Two with minimal strain. Self-governance, however, is supplemented with community counselors who supervise behaviour and are available to help the members with their problems in following the Walden Code.

Community governance

Walden Two has a constitution that "can be changed by a unanimous vote of the Planners and a two-thirds vote of the Managers".

The constitution provides for a "Board of Planners", which is Walden Two's "only government". "Board of Planners" is a name that "goes back to the days when Walden Two existed only on paper". "There are six Planners, usually three men and three women". "The Planners are charged with the success of the community. They make policies, review the work of the Managers, keep an eye on the state of the nation in general. They also have certain judicial functions." A Planner "may serve for ten years, but no longer." A vacancy on the Board of Planners is filled by the Board "from a pair of names supplied by the Managers".

Managers are "specialists in charge of the divisions and services of Walden Two". A member of the community can "work up to be a Manager--through intermediate positions which carry a good deal of responsibility and provide the necessary apprenticeship". The Managers are not elected by the members of Walden Two. The method of selecting Managers is not specified; however, since the Board of Planners is Walden Two's "only government", it is reasonable to suppose that Managers are appointed by the Board of Planners.

Walden Two has Planners, Managers, Workers, and Scientists. The Scientists conduct experiments "in plant and animal breeding, the control of infant behavior, educational processes of several sorts, and the use of some of our [Walden Two's] raw materials". The method of selecting Scientists is not specified but it is again reasonable to suppose that Scientists are appointed by the Board of Planners.

Novel ideas

In Walden Two, Skinner argues for a 24 hour work week - four hours a day for six days, with one day off - and argues that it would be as productive as a full time shift from all of the members in comparable jobs outside of the community.

Frazier, the community founder, argues for the elimination of lectures, traditional education, democracy, capitalism, the family, and suggests that other things, like religion, will fall away in a more ideal social setting like Walden Two.

The lecture as an 'inefficient means to transmit culture' and has been done away with in Walden Two. Traditional education is useless and is to be replaced by a practical education driven by the environment and learned as needed. Education is seen as a lifelong learning process where a “student” is free to choose what they want to learn and when it will be useful for them to learn it. By not having a structured and regimented education system learning is more meaningful and the “students” are more likely to retain the information. Democracy is an outdated and inefficient form of government which allows for the tyranny of the majority over the minority, which is not possible in Walden Two. Capitalism is wasteful, causing great duplication of effort in advertising, retailing, and so on. It also relegates the common man to a lower place for using his hands in physical labor. The family is an outdated structure, like race, which has no real meaning when examined. It is to be replaced by the more efficient community unit. Religion is a product of social anxiety which in a non-anxiety producing culture like Walden Two will 'fall away'. Throughout the book he suggests that the solution to these outdated concepts of humanity is to control human behavior using positive reinforcement.

Growth and population

The community has an aggressive growth policy fueled by members having children at a young age ( 'in their teens' perhaps 15 or 16), as well as recruiting visitors like the characters in the book. This growth allowed them to reach one thousand members within ten years.

The next phase of the plan is Walden Six, a community whose architecture is designed all at once. Around half of the current members of Walden Two are to leave and build, manage and live in Walden Six.

Although initially eschewing political power for 'not giving them the chance we want', Frazier outlines a policy of taking over local political structures when possible. The aggressive growth policy gives the community political power in a democracy, and it creates for the members a Walden Ticket. The Walden Ticket tells the members who to vote for in the best interest of the community.

Family

Since teen marriage is common, members are encouraged to raise children in a collective manner. One reason is to lessen the burden on the new couple. A second reason is to develop positive, parental feelings by the children for many or all adults. To this end parents aren't to single their own children out for special favors, are to give gifts and shower attention on several children as well as their own, and are to be addressed by their proper names instead of 'mother' or 'father'. This method serves the purposes of alleviating the pressure parents feel by being the sole provider for their children and strengthening the ties of the children to the community.

Clothing

An important concept to note is the concept of clothing in this story because status and clothes are related.

The women were not required to dress a certain way. It is their belief that, “Going out of style isn’t a natural process, but a manipulated change which destroys the beauty of last year’s dress in order to make it worthless” (source: Skinner 34). They wanted to avoid wasting perfectly good clothing by continuously and quick changing styles but they still wanted to look good. They strategically chose the clothing that was good for past and the future. Women did not fill their closets with party dresses because they were not practical.

It seemed as the women were dressed well. Men wore things that are considered more normal in society. According to Frazier, “Men are less dependent on clothes....” (source: Skinner 37)

Genetics and Eugenics

Frazier suggests that the community may be able to implement a policy of eugenics, where parenthood and marriage are effectively separated. Marriage would be by choice, although with the guidance of the community, and parenthood would be by plan. This policy is not in effect at the time of Burris' visit, nor is it mentioned in Skinner's follow up News from Nowhere, 1984.

Interestingly, in Walden Two Skinner speculates on the role of genetics playing a role in many areas of human behavior. This runs counter to the many accusations that his analysis rejects genetics, something he has refuted more than once.

A Golden Age

Frazier indicates that the artistic productivity of the members is designed to promote a Golden Age of art, music and literature. The art mentioned is primarily painting, the music mentioned is mostly classical - Bach's B-Minor Mass and some violin with piano accompaniment - and the literature is less clear because although many books are mentioned - from Machiavelli to H.G. Wells - it would be Anthony Trollope that might be the most fitting for the category.

Socialism

The community practices total income sharing, with the members earning their living through a community accounting system-cum-currency called the labor credit. Although the labor credit is roughly one hour of work its value is adjusted up or down based on the value of the work. The value is determined in part by the popularity of the work, with unpopular work being worth more and popular work being worth less. A community member may work up to 8 hours a day if they choose only easy, popular work. If they choose unpopular work they may work less than the community 4 hour average.

Thoreau's Walden

Walden Two's title is a reference to Henry David Thoreau's book Walden. In the novel, the Walden Community is mentioned as having the benefits of living in a place like Thoreau's Walden, but "with company". It is, as the book says, 'Walden for two' - meaning a community and not a place of solitude. Originally, Skinner indicated that he wanted to title it The Sun is but a Morning Star, a clear reference to Thoreau's Walden, but the publishers suggested the current title as an alternative.

In theory and in practice, Thoreau's Walden experiment and the Walden Two experiment were far different from one another. For instance, Thoreau's Walden espouses the virtues of self-reliance at the individual level, while Walden Two espouses the virtues of self-reliance at the community level.

News From Nowhere, 1984

Skinner published a follow up to Walden Two in an essay titled News From Nowhere, 1984. It details the discovery of Eric Blair in the community who seeks out and meets Burris, confessing his true identity as George Orwell. Blair seeks out Frazier as the 'leader' and the two have discussions which comprise the essay. Skinner, as Frazier, mentions that Walden Two has "no institutionalized system of government, religion, or economics" and relates this to the goal of 19th century anarchism. Skinner essentially posits Walden Two as a practical non-violent anarchist system.Vorlage:Fact

Real world efforts

Many efforts to create a Walden Two in real life are detailed in Hilke Kuhlmann's Living Walden Two and in Daniel W. Bjork's B.F.Skinner.

Some of them include:

• 1955 In New Haven, Connecticut a group led by Arthur Gladstone tries to start a community.
• 1966 Waldenwoods conference is held in Hartland, Michigan, comprising 83 adults and 4 children, coordinated through the Breiland list (a list of interested people who wrote to Skinner and were referred to Jim Breiland).
• 1966 Matthew Israel forms the Association for Social Design (ASD), to promote a Walden Two, which soon finds chapters in Los Angeles, Albuquerque, and Washington, D.C..
• 1967 Israel's ASD forms the Morningside House in Arlington, Massachusetts.
• 1967 Twin Oaks Community (web site) is started in Lousia, Virginia.
• 1969 Keith Miller in Lawrence, Kansas founds a 'Walden house' student collective that becomes The Sunflower House 11.
• 1971 Roger Ulrich starts Lake Village in Michigan originally conceptualized as a 'scientific behaviorist experiment'.
• 1971 Los Horcones (web site), is started in Hermosillo, Mexico.
• 1972 Sunflower House 11 is (re)born in Lawrence, Kansas from the previous experiment.
• 1979 East Wind in south central Missouri.

Twin Oaks is detailed in Kat Kinkade's book, Twin Oaks: A Walden Two Experiment. Originally started as a Walden Two community, it has since rejected its Walden Two position, however it still uses its modified Planner-Manager system as well as a system of labor credits based on the book.

Los Horcones is described as being 'Walden Two' inspired by their website, but appears to have rejected the Planner-Manager system in favor of what it describes as 'Personocracy' . It is strongly Radical behaviorist though, which it claims as the basis for the title of a Walden Two community.

Cultural engineering

Skinner wrote about cultural engineering in at least two books, devoting a chapter to it in both Science and Human Behavior and Beyond Freedom and Dignity.

In Science and Human Behavior a chapter is titled "Designing a Culture" and expands on this position as well as in other documents. In Beyond Freedom and Dignity there are many indirect references to Walden Two when describing other cultural designs.

For more information on cultural design today see behavioral engineering.

Criticisms

Hilke Kuhlmann's Living Walden Two possesses many subtle and not-so-subtle criticisms of the original Walden Two which are related to the actual efforts that arose from the novel. One criticism is that many of the founders of real-life Walden Twos identified with, or wanted to emulate, Frazier, the uncharismatic founder of the community.

In a critique of Walden Two, Harvey L. Gamble, Jr., asserted that Skinner's "fundamental thesis is that individual traits are shaped from above, by social forces that create the environment", and that Skinner's goal "is to create a frictionless society where individuals are properly socialized to function with others as a unit", and to thus "make the community [Walden Two] into a perfectly efficient anthill". Gamble writes, "We find at the end of Walden Two that Frazier [a founding member of Walden Two]... has sole control over the political system and its policies. It is he who regulates food, work, education, and sleep, and who sets the moral and economic agenda." However, contrary to Gamble's critique, it should be noted that neither Frazier nor any other person has the sole power to amend the constitution of Walden Two. See the "Community governance" section, above.

Noam Chomksy also compares Walden Two to a concentration camp and suggests that it would be a dystopia

And although Skinner himself was using the character of a philosopher, Castle, as his protagonist, Castle echoes what would be the very same criticisms of many of the novels critics. Thus the novel Walden Two possesses many of the self-same elements of criticism within it.

Publication details

• ISBN 0-87220-779-X (Hardcover)(Worldcat link: [1])
• ISBN 0-87220-778-1 (Paperback)(Worldcat link: [2])
• ISBN 0-02-411510-X (Mass market paperback)(Worldcat link: [3]).

See also

• Beyond Freedom and Dignity
• New Atlantis

Further reading

• Preview of Walden Two
• Review of Living Walden Two: B. F. Skinner's Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental Communities. Richard F. Rakos (2006). The Behavior Analyst, volume 29(1), pp.153–157.
• Discriminating utopian from dystopian literature: Why is Walden Two considered a dystopia? Bobby Newman (1993). The Behavior Analyst, volume 16(2), pp. 167-175.
• A multicultural feminist analysis of Walden Two. Rita S. Wolpert (2005). The Behavior Analyst Today, volume 6(3), pp. 186-190.
• Western Cultural Influences in Behavior Analysis as Seen From a Walden Two. Comunidad Los Horcones (2002). Behavior and Social Issues, volume 11(2), pp. 204-212.
• Beyond the Box: B.F. Skinner's Technology of Behavior from Laboratory to Life, 1950s-1970s. Alexandra Rutherford (2009). Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 224 pages. ISBN 0802096182.
  • Audio interview of Alexandra Rutherford.
  • From Rats and Pigeons to Cultural Practices: A Review of Beyond the Box: B. F. Skinner's Technology of Behavior from Laboratory to Life, 1950s to 1970s. Peter Lamal (2009). Behavior and Social Issues, volume 18, Advance Online Publication.

External links

• A Walden Two website