B. F. Skinner and the Technological Control of Social Behavior
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7250495 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Meredith W Watts (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1975 |
| Volume | 69 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 214-227 |
| Publication date | 1975-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1957902 |
| OpenAlex | W2136882571 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 23 |
Humanist critiques of B. F. Skinner have made valuable contributions to our understanding of his thought, but more attention needs to be paid to his work as potential empirical theory. To evaluate the theoretical merits of Skinner's approach, this paper examines his methodological postulates, his implicit epistemology, and some underlying normative assumptions. It is argued that Skinnerian behaviorism commits a serious error in allowing a methodological presupposition (reduction of the subject matter to observable behavior of the organism) to become a de facto ontology that prematurely forecloses the incorporation of potentially valuable hypothetical constructs at the level of social theory. This theoretical difficulty is critical because the inherent safeguards of science that Skinner proposes as a humane safeguard against misuse would be unlikely to apply to an actual technology of behavior control as employed by political and administrative authorities
Behaviorism · Control (management · Economics · Epistemology · Humanism · Law and economics · Normative · Ontology · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Presupposition · Social control · Social science · Sociology · Behavioral and Psychological Studies · Berry genetics and cultivation research · Computer Science · Law · Philosophy
Theories in social psychology
Explanation and human action
Science and Human Behavior
Social learning and clinical psychology.
Verbal behavior.
Beyond Freedom and Dignity
Constructing social theories
The anatomy of human destructiveness
The social construction of reality
Beyond Freedom and Dignity
Conceptual Foundations of Scientific Thought
The Problem of Consciousness--A Debate
Control of human behavior
Beyond the punitive society
Approaches to the Study of Politics
Learning and Legitimacy
A Skinnerian Analysis of Conflict Behavior
The Political Relevance of Behavioral and Existential Psychology
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,08 |
| Citation span | 1975 - 1980 (6) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |