I don't believe conditioning is ever positive when looking at the big picture. Sure, you can isolate small instances of positively-conditioned responses but they exist within a larger fucked-up framework (say, charity) and are rarely free of harm.
I hope people will behave unselfishly, for the most part, without conditioning. I'm not certain of it, but I'm willing to gamble, like. And yes, I'm certain we can rid ourselves of the concept. It's only necessitated by unnecessary and damaging structures.
She was very popular in the 70's as a feminist writer and activist for women's rights.