Podcast for Social Research, Episode 94.5: B.F. Skinner Plays Himself — a Brief Film Guide

In this shortcast edition of the Podcast for Social Research, recorded live as part of BISR's Occasional Evenings event series, BISR's Isi Litke and Rebecca Ariel Porte talk with documentarian Ted Kennedy about his film, B.F. Skinner Plays Himself, composed of found footage from a never-released educational film about the famed radical behaviorist. The conversation covers the political contexts for radical behaviorism, its legacies and missed opportunities, and the behaviorist resistance to psychoanalytic perspectives. The three also consider documentary aesthetics, working with found footage, and what studying Skinner as a documentary subject can teach us about the conditions that produce new behaviors. This episode was produced by Ryan Lentini. Learn more about upcoming courses on our website. Follow Brooklyn Institute for Social Research on Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Bluesky.