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Article ID: CBB000300877

B. F. Skinner's Technology of Behavior in American Life: From Consumer Culture to Counterculture (2003)

Rutherford, Alexandra (Author)

Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
Volume: 39
Pages: 1--23
Publication date: 2003
Language: English

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Psychology Popular culture Behaviorism 20th century, late United States Skinner, Burrhus Frederic

From the 1940s through the 1970s, articles in popular magazines and newspapers presented B. F. Skinner in a wide array of guises, from educational revolutionary and utopian to totalitarian and fascist. Understanding these diverse, and often contradictory, portrayals requires a consideration of the social and political discourses in which they were embedded. In this paper, I suggest that reports of Skinner's work were influenced by a number of cultural categories, from the better living campaign of the 1950s, to the counterculture crusade of the late 1960s. Through this examination, a multifaceted rendering of Skinner's public image that takes into account the nature of his work, the context in which it was produced, and the culture in which it was received is revealed. I propose that the received view of Skinner as maligned behaviorist actually obscures the complexity of his relationship with psychology's public throughout this period. 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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