Review of Living Walden Two: B. F. Skinner’s behaviorist utopia and experimental communities

Abstract

Kuhlmann’s Living Walden Two (2005) offers a social history of the actual experimental communities that were inspired by Skinner’s (1948) utopian novel. In the course of her examination, the author presents a reasonably accurate overview of the key cultural design elements described in the novel, of behavioral philosophy applied to cultural design, and of the academic reaction to the behavioral philosophy embodied in the fictional community. She is critical of several key behavioral tenets, but generally remains analytical rather than emotional. Kuhlmann concludes that contextual and individual factors undermined the capacity of most of the experimental communities inspired by Walden Two to sustain themselves.