A multicultural feminist analysis of Walden Two.

Abstract

Feminist and multicultural analyses are largely absent from behavior analysis. lack is especially problematic in the area of cultural design. The analysis of the social contingencies of reinforcement is incomplete without an examination of race, class, and gender. paper asks: Are behavioral societies good for women, along with the follow-up question, If so, for which women? A critique of Walden Two from a multicultural feminist perspective demonstrates the kind of inquiry that might lead to answers to these questions, and to greater efficacy in cultural design. Key words: behavior analysis, cultural practices, feminism, multicultural, Walden Two ********** Behavior analysts have a long tradition of working for social change. Findings from the laboratory have been applied to schools, clinics, prisons, businesses, and community programs. Moreover, following Skinner's lead with Walden Two (1947) and Science and Human Behavior (1953), there is a long history of interest in the design of cultures. However, with few exceptions, little attention has been paid to gender (Ruiz, 1995, 2003). Therefore, it might be time for behaviorists to ask a basic question: Are behavioral societies good for women? And since contemporary feminist research is multicultural, a follow-up question might be: If so, for which women? Ruiz (1995) and Landrine (1995) have expressed concern over the exclusion of both feminist and multicultural issues in psychology. They suggest that radical behaviorism is contextualistic, and as such is well suited for examining feminist concerns. Chiesa (1992) writes, Radical behaviorism's explanatory system focuses on relations between the behaving persons, the setting conditions of behavior, and its consequences--behavior in its (p.1298). Further, Ruiz (1995) explains, This view categorically rejects any attempt to understand human action outside the boundaries of personal life experience and current circumstance ... (and sees) the reciprocal interdependency between the individual and her context as the key to creating and changing cultural practices (pp. 169-170). The categories of gender, race, class, and sexuality as understood by feminists are socially constructed and critical to understanding context. Examining the role they play in the contingencies of reinforcement would increase our efficacy, and if we exclude these important controlling variables from our analysis, we make successful intervention less likely. Since we live in a gendered and racialized world, we ignore our privileges at our peril. Rothenberg (2002) writes, History tells us that, in the end, an unjust and inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities leads to terrible violence ... In this sense, all of us, both the victims and beneficiaries of racism (and other oppressions) pay a terrible price (p.4). We cannot solve our problems by ignoring important controlling variables. In a similar vein, Audre Lorde (1984) exhorts us to examine our differences for the sake of change: There are very real differences between us of race, age, and sex. But it is not those differences between us that are separating us. It is rather our refusal to recognize those differences, and to examine the distortion which result from our misnaming them and their effects upon human behavior and expectation. (Italics mine) (p.115) paper critiques Walden Two from a multicultural feminist perspective to demonstrate the kind of inquiry that might lead to more effective change. Although a visionary, Skinner was a product of his time and as such he reflects an androcentric, Euroamerican point of view. A similar inconsistency is described by hooks (1994) writing about Freire: There has never been a moment ... that I have not remained aware of not only the sexism of the language but the way he ... constructs aphallocentric paradigm of liberation--wherein freedom and the experience of patriarchal manhood are always linked as though they are one and the same. …