This book review is about Murray Sidman's book from the 1980's - Coercion and Its Fallout. While I read this in 2022, I would have thought it was written in 2022, not 1989!
I initially read this book after attending an excellent online workshop on Designing Instruction that Honors Client Assent Withdrawal, Promotes Self-Advocacy, and Minimizes Harm through ABAC. (It's not currently available on demand, but I highly recommend keeping an eye on their site for details of upcoming workshops!)
I was interested in reading the book to delve more into the role of extinction and even punishing contingencies within my work. Given the book was written in the eighties, I wasn't sure if there would be relatable themes and findings. However, I was very wrong about that.
A lot of the same issues that are identified by Sidman in the eighties are unfortunately still apparent today. Whether in some modified and shaped version, or rather pretty much being in a very similar spot, these issues spread beyond behaviour analytic specific processes, but Sidman also discusses climate change inaction and what the future holds if this continues.
The role of technology was also discussed. While the technology to come from the perspective of the eighties is different to the technology to come that we face today, considerations about the impact of technology on our lives are a continual concern to monitor.
The main concept from the book was about how coercion is all around us, and how conditioned we are to be coerced or coerce others, and the impact on the work behaviour analysts are doing - most in the 'helping' field, i.e., education, disability, health. This is an important distinction to understand, as being aware of when someone might be coerced, whether into responding, being in agreement, or even just doing something they don't necessarily want to do, leads to a current focus within the field and the aim of the workshop I attended, assent.
If you're interested in learning more about how behaviour analysts can improve their practice to ensure consent and assent are provided, I'd recommend reading this book.
Have you read this book?
0%Yes - loved it 💕
0%Nope 🙅
0%Not yet, but I plan to 📖
Purchase here: Coercion and its Fallout by Murray Sidman
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