Beyond Freedom and Dignity

Content Warning: This section of the guide quotes a racist portion of Skinner’s text.

Skinner posits that most people are consistently threatened by punishment, meaning they are neither free nor dignified. Punishment is sanctioned by society and used to prevent unwanted behaviors. It is often ineffective and followed by recidivism once the punitive conditions have ceased. The threat of further punishment and residual negative emotions, like guilt or shame, can prevent re-offense or can result in other methods of evading punishment, such as obscuring unwanted behaviors through fantasizing and rationalization and avoiding environmental, physiological, or emotional triggers. These steps to avoid punishment can be taken individually or can be implemented by others, such as locking away one’s possessions to prevent theft or by prohibiting the sale or consumption of drugs and alcohol.

Unintended consequences may follow punishments or avoidance of punishment; for instance, a person may defect from the punishing body. The unwanted consequences of punishment can be evaded by redesigning society to make punishable behavior less prevalent. Some, like critic Joseph Wood Krutch, reject this idea and feel that people should have to prove their goodness. Skinner counters that credit for behavioral changes that result from punishment should go to the environment and not to the reformed individual.