B. F. Skinner's utopian vision: behind and beyond walden two

This paper addresses B. F. Skinner's utopian vision for enhancing social justice and human well‐being as it was introduced in his 1948 novel, Walden Two. In the first part, we address the historical, intellectual, and social context that situates the book in the utopian genre, the critiques of its premises and practices, and the fate of intentional communities patterned on the book. In the second part, we review practices in Skinner's book that advance social justice and human well‐being under the themes of health, wealth, and wisdom, and then focus on contemporary practices that are the legacy of his vision. His vision was neither the a priori truth of a particular premise about human behavior or a necessary practice (blueprint) for an intentional community but rather the use of empirical methods to discover premises and practices that work to advance the health, wealth, and wisdom of individuals and survival of the culture.     

The impact of a ready‐made state: East Germans in comparative perspective

To understand the impact of reunification upon Germans, we must make before and after comparisons across time, and also across central Europe. The first section shows that from the perspective of comparative Communist regimes, east Germans have been doubly advantaged, in former times because of belonging to a relatively prosperous part of the Soviet bloc and since reunification as subjects of a ‘ready‐made state’ with democracy and a wealthy social market economy. Analysis in the second section of the impact of reunification on west Germans shows that a significant proportion feel less satisfied than before, whereas the opposite is the case for east Germans. The third section introduces comparisons with Austria. Like the Federal Republic, it has enjoyed the advantages of democracy and a market economy, but without the trauma of division and reunification.     

Demand for tea in the UK 1874–1938: An econometric study

The main objective of this study is to provide estimates of price and income elasticities of demand for tea in order to explain the growth in tea consumption over the period 1874–1938. Numerous other factors, both economic and social, may contribute to changing patterns of consumption. Indeed, such factors as demographic and organisational changes and different social habits may exert an influence on price and income elasticities. A subsidiary aim of this study is to examine the influence of these factors on the differences in income and price elasticities in demand for tea over various sub‐periods between 1874 and 1938.     

Explaining the Reversed Gender Gap in Political Consumerism: Personality Traits as Significant Mediators

Research on political consumerism documents a persistent reversed gender gap, as women boycott and buycott products more often than men. Previous efforts to explain the reversed gender gap rely on classical theoretical models developed to illuminate gender differences in political participation in general. Accounting for socio‐economic and situational factors as well as socialization leaves a significant amount of the reversed gender gap unexplained, though. Adhering to recent empirical evidence of personality as an important factor influencing political behavior, we argue that gender differences in personality traits could provide an alternative explanation to account for gender disparities in political consumerism. We use original survey data specially designed to measure political consumerism in Switzerland, which also include the Big Five model of personality. We find empirical evidence that gender differences in personality traits, in particular agreeableness, explain a significant portion of the reversed gender gap in political consumerism.