... interesting.... Im trying to find out if there are documented successes of small kind of tribal modern Western communities... maybe we need to go back to living in smaller groups. Just a theory. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Oaks_Community,_Virginia Critiques of Twin Oaks The community itself acknowledges that it has yet to create the perfect society; it even provides a guidebook entitled Not Utopia Yet to visitors. Twin Oaks founders were inspired by B. F. Skinners utopian novel Walden Two. In the early years of Twin Oaks, members engaged in behaviorist experiments to change personal behavior, but there was no attempt to impose behaviorism as a central guiding principle of the community. Behaviorist ideology persists at Twin Oaks today only in attempts to make conditions reinforcing in work areas (e.g., treats and coffee being served, or live music being played). There is an absence of any form of punishment, which is due to an ideology of non-violence.[citation needed] A common critique of Twin Oaks both by visitors and members is that the community is dirty and cluttered. The egalitarian principle of the community and the self-selecting nature of the labor system means that there is no lower class to perform unpleasant work like cleaning. Visitors are often assigned work not of their choosing, but a community rule forbids visitors being assigned cleaning work in which a member doesnt also participate.[citation needed] Another critique of Twin Oaks is interpersonal conflict between members that the community does not attempt to resolve. Many other intentional communities prioritize interpersonal communication by making a condition of membership that extreme conflict must be worked out. Twin Oaks has a committee of facilitators called the Process Team that helps individuals resolve conflict, but participation is voluntary. Some members in conflict refuse to deal with their conflict through direct communication or through the Process Team. Twin Oaks has no formal consequences for these members.[citation needed] The initial vision that the founders had for Twin Oaks was for a total membership of one thousand. Supporters of Twin Oaks are often critical that the community is unwilling to grow. Twin Oaks has remained at a population of around 100 (including children) since 1996.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 04:40:51 +0000
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