Walden Two and 1984 are precise opposites, not both totalitarian portraits.

Evidence

The two utopias have often been confused with each other in their content and aims: Time magazine’s 1971 cover story on Skinner described Walden Two as raising “the specter of a 1984 Orwellian society that might really come to pass.” The great historian and literary critic Lewis Mumford once described Walden Two as a “totalitarian utopia” and a depiction of “hell,” but in fact these characterizations are a persistent and, as we shall see, dangerous confusion. Although both books have been described as depictions of totalitarianism, the forms of power that each describes are profoundly different. In most respects, they are precise opposites. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1178

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the central distinction Zuboff will build on: Orwellian power (possession from inside out) vs. Skinnerian power (behavioral observation) as opposites, not relatives.
• XREF: The Orwell-vs-Skinner opposition that Zuboff relies on is central to chapter 6’s distinction between instrumentarian totalitarianism and earlier totalitarianisms; also recalls the reader’s We (Zamyatin) in the library as another totalitarian utopia. — connects to: Walden Two and 1984, both post-war utopias of opposing power logics, received opposite receptions. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1177