Toward a Synthesis of Marx and Skinner

Abstract

This paper examines some relationships between the theoretical contributions of Karl Marx and B.F. Skinner—that is, between the natural sciences of the social change (scientific socialism) and of behavior change (behaviorology). I provide an overview of the science of behaviorology, describe its emergence as a scientific revolution within the natural sciences, and then highlight some of its implications for Marxist theory as well as for the development of the human being and social progress. I briefly compare the behaviorological and Marxist perspectives on language, personality, culture, and communist consciousness.