Skinner et l'utopie sociale

This text describes and discusses Skinner's approach to the society and the “utopian” experiments inspired by Walden 2, the novel of B.F. Skinner. The goal of the social experimentation suggested by Skinner is to exceed the “society of punishment”. Some real experiments and fiction in the line on Walden 2 show at the same time his perpespective and boundaries. After 30 years, the Los Horcones community (Mexico) mains a rich but unique experiment; in addition, the novel of R. Ardila (Walden 3) raises the question of the skinnerian utopia in real life. Lastly, a comment in made concerning the relevance of non-dogmatic evaluation of Skinner's contribution to the analysis of social behavior.