Walden Two

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Walden Two (1948) is a fictional utopian novel by behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner ^[1].

Walden Two describes a small 1,000 person planned rural community in which the members are happy, productive and creative. The community is governed by Managers, six Planners, and supports a small number of Scientists. It promotes the arts and leisure, requiring only four hours of work per member daily. The members subscribe to a Code of conduct which is based on, and supported by, a science of human behavior which resembles Skinner's own conception of human behavior^[2].

Walden Two challenges a host of social conventions including the value of modern education, the effectiveness of professors and the problems of excessive work. It argues for a planned economy, and against Capitalism. The governing structure is not democratic in the conventional sense. Children are raised largely outside of the nuclear family and are encouraged to be loyal to the community over their own parents. Members are encouraged to have children 'as soon as possible' and the community pursues a high growth policy. The book alludes to the acquisition of political power, and to an expansive strategy of replication. It flirts with eugenics, and suggests that it might be able to create a Golden Age.

Walden Two controversies include the rejection of democracy, the perceived narrow range of emotional expression, its possible appeal to dictators, the attraction to it by people who seek to emulate T.E. Frazier, the emotionally unstable protagonist^[3], the socialistic nature of the economic system, and the essentially atheistic bent of the secular community.

Contents 1 Story 2 Other utopias 3 Community 4 Members 5 Planners, Managers and Scientists 6 Novel ideas 6.1 Growth and population 6.2 Family 6.3 Clothing 6.4 Genetics and Eugenics 6.5 A Golden Age 6.6 Socialism 7 Thoreau's Walden 8 News From Nowhere, 1984 9 Real world efforts 10 Cultural engineering 11 Criticisms 12 See also 13 References 14 External links

[edit] Story

Walden Two is a novel about a small party of visitors to a thousand person community ten years after its founding. T.E. Frazier in founding the community had written a popular article suggesting people join him in starting a community based on Thoreau's ideas a decade earlier.

Two soldiers, returning from the war, are trying to find Frazier, and enlist the help of Professor Burris. Burris finds Frazier, contacts him, and finds himself swept up into a small party of visitors to the community.

Professor Burris invites a fellow Professor along - Augustine Castle - and with the two original veterans, Rogers and Steve Jamnick, and their partners - Mary Grove and Barbara Macklin - makes a party of six.

The story has many small plot devices, but it mainly centers on the arguments between Frazier and his foil Castle, with some small diversions provided by Burris. This is done to allow us to hear about the various reasons for the fictional communities structure, its past, and its future.^{[citation needed]} The novel ends with one couple staying, with the rest of the party leaving. Burris, in a sudden change of heart, turns around and comes back quitting his job at the university without notice.

[edit] Other utopias

Skinner comments on other utopias in Walden Two noting that his utopia is in the present day, rather than the distant future. It is not in a hard to reach geographic location unlike Sir Thomas More’s novel of Utopia where there was only one way in or out of the fictional island society. Walden Two is only a bus ride and a car trip from a major city.

Skinner's motivations in writing Walden Two were 'mainly personal' as Skinner notes in the introduction.^[4] Skinner notes having read Bacon's The New Atlantis as a young man after being told that Shakespeare was Sir Francis Bacon^[5]. Other utopias are explicitly mentioned in the book, such as Erewhon and Looking Backward. It may have also been inspired by Skinner's desire to 'describe an interesting Heaven'^[6]

[edit] Community

Walden Two describes a small 1,000 person community which started after the founder, T.E. Frazier and a small group of cohorts plan the community along Thoreauvian and psychological lines. Frazier and five other community members become the Planners of the community, a kind of governing board.

The highly planned rural community lifestyle is designed to provide for self-sufficiency. This is partly in emulation of Thoreau's self-sufficiency in Walden, and partly to allow for the experimental control of the community as a pilot scientific experiment. However, the way things are done is subject to change if there is good evidence presented in favor of that change.

[edit] Members

The members are described happy, productive and creative. Their happiness is derived from the promotion of rich social relationships, family life, 'free affection', the creation of art, music, literature, the opportunity for games like chess and tennis, as well as ample rest, good food, and sleep.

The community is ostensibly self-governed by the members. The members subscribe to the Walden Code, a set of conduct standards and techniques of self-control, which are supposed to allow the members to maintain their happy, productive life in Walden Two with minimal strain. There are multiple supplements to the self-governance, however. Community counselors also provide some level of oversight and availability to help with problems members may have following the Code (or Plan which is in the Code).

[edit] Planners, Managers and Scientists

Additionally, Walden Two has six Planners who oversee the success of the community, as well as numerous Managers who provide the day-to-day oversight for community life. Neither the Planners nor Managers can be elected or unelected, and it is unclear how the Planners arose initially except perhaps through self- or mutual-election. The Managers are selected by the Planners from the membership at large.

There are also a small number of Scientists who conduct applied research, presumably to test and expand the principles the community is based on.

[edit] Novel ideas

In Walden Two, Skinner argues for a 24 hour work week - four hours a day for a 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 is 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.

[edit] Growth and population

The community has an aggressive growth policy fueled by members having children at a young age ('in their teens' perhaps 17 or 18), 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.

[edit] Family

Here marriages are encouraged as well as early marriages and platonic friendships. Childhood bonds to parents are to be 'weakened' through community plans 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 alleviates the pressure off the parents to be the sole provider for their children. Ultimately, this strengthens the children’s ties to the community.

[edit] Clothing

An important concept to note is the fact that the clothes people wear do not represent their status because that is an ‘unthinkable’ notion here.

The women seem more attractive here due to the fact that they are not required to dress within strict guidelines. 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. It’s not like there were no poor people in this utopia to donate their unwanted or old clothes to. They strategically chose the clothing that was less likely to go out of style so quickly. For example, they wore things like suits and sweater or blouse with a skirt. Women did not fill their closets with party dresses because they were not practical.

It seemed as the women dressed a little nicer than the men. Men wore things like sweaters, jackets, and leather coats. They do not like to wear ties. According to Frazier, “Men are less dependent on clothes....” (source: Skinner 37)

[edit] 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.^[7]

[edit] 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 most clearly fall into that category.^[who?]

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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^[8].

In reality, Thoreau's Walden experiment and the Walden Two experiment were far different in theory, outcome, and ideology. Thoreau's Walden espouses the virtues of self-reliance, while Walden Two is more collectivist in thought.

[edit] News From Nowhere, 1984

Skinner published a follow up to Walden Two in an essay titled News From Nowhere, 1984^[9]. 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Real world efforts

Many efforts to create a Walden Two in real life are detailed in Hilke Kuhlmann's Living Walden Two^[10] and in Daniel W. Bjork's B.F.Skinner.

Some of them include:

• 1955 In New Haven, Connecticut a group lead 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' ^[11] 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.^[12]

Twin Oaks is detailed in Kat Kinkade's book, Twin Oaks: A Walden Two Experiment^[13]. 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' ^[14]. It is strongly Radical behaviorist though, which it claims as the basis for the title of a Walden Two community.

[edit] 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^[15] 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.

[edit] Criticisms

Rozycki, in his Critical Review, criticizes Walden Two for the conventional role of women in Walden Two which could be seen as sexist^[16].

There seems to be this false sense of equality in the workforce. Women are primarily placed into stereotypical females roles like cooking, weaving, and being a caregiver. Males were primarily placed into stereotypical male positions like being a doctor, farmer or the operation of heavy equipment.

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.

Gable, Harvey L., Jr. Criticizes Walden Two says “...this environment is a benign dictatorship, with a single person regulating all human activities in the name of serving his people.” This model community founded by T.E. Frazier is based on the principles of behavioral modification and denying the reality of nature by ignoring its existence. He uses the family structure as an example of this.

[edit] See also

• Beyond Freedom and Dignity
• Thomas C. Schelling

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Richard David Ramsey, Morning Star: The Values-Communication of Skinner's Walden Two, Ph.D. dissertation, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, December 1979; available from University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, MI. Attempts to analyze Walden Two, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, other Skinner works in the context of Skinner's life; lists over 500 sources.
• A Walden Two website