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Carol Gilligan

American Feminist,Ethicist, & Psychologist

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Who is Carol Gilligan?

Born in New York November 28th 1936 PhD- Harvard University 1964, AM- Radcliff College 1961, AB-Swarthmore College 1958

Responses to Temptation: An Analysis Of Motives

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Who is Carol Gilligan?

In 1982 Carol Gilligan published her bookIn aDifferent Voice and startled a country trying to

understand male and female differences. The book

outlined her findings on female moral development and

decision making.

She worked along with Erik Erikson and LawrenceKohlberg, both had major influences on her career

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Theories

Based on Moral and Ethical development Stemmed from the biasness of Kohlbergs theory

Kohlbergs theory of moral development involved the

study of privileged white men only: it didnt represent

women and other cultures

Instead of emphasizing individualism, Gilligans theoryfocuses on moral development and an ethic of care

Although this moral problem solving approach favorsfemales over males, a study proved that both males andfemales care and reason when in a dilemma

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Pre-Conventional

Conventional

Post-Conventional

Social or

conventional

morality

Principled

Morality

Selfish

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Unlike Kohlberg whose studies included malesfocused on justice, Gilligan found that females

focused on compassion, and awareness of

relationships emphasizing a responsibility toward

others.

Gilligan found that men tend to organized socialrelationships in a hierarchical order, and subscribe toa morality of rights, while females value

interpersonal connectedness, care, sensitivity, and

responsibility.

Theories

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Theories

She says that men think in terms of rules and justiceand women are more inclined to think in terms of

caring and relationships.

She wanted society to value both equally

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Opposing Views

The male view of individual rights and rules was

considered a higher stage than women's point of

view of development in terms of its caring effect on

human relationships. Women were taught to care forother people and expect others to care for them.

Many feminists insistedthat there are no

differences between

males and females.

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Christina Hoff Sommers, PhD criticized thatGilligan has failed to produce the data for her

research.

She condemns the fact that Gilligan used anecdotalevidence, that researchers have not been able to

duplicate her work, and that the samples used were

too small.

She thinks the field of gender studies needs to be putto the test of people from fields such as neuroscience

or evolutionary psychology rather than from the area

of education.

She feels strongly that

promoting an anti-male

agenda hurts both males and

females.

Opposing Views

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Opposing Views

Sommers does not find it helpful for girls and womento be told that they are diminished or voiceless.

In respond Gilligan says that her findings have beenpublished in leading journals and that Sommers

points are not accurate.

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Gilligans Contributions

Gilligan has made two major contributions to the fieldof educational psychology

First is her discovery of a moral reasoning based onthe ethics of care, which complements Kohlberg's

morality based on the ethics of justice.

Her second contribution is identifying the self-silencing of a young person's authentic voice in

surrender to the expectations of society.

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Gilligan in the classroom

Gilligans theory can easily be applied to the

classroom.

The teacher should teach children to care bycaring for their students.

It teaches teachers to treat boys and girls equally.

It helps teachers to understand that girls and boyshave different stages of moral development

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Gilligan in the classroom

Here are some techniques and guidelines to assist withputting Gilligans moral development theory to practice in

the classroom:

Safe learning environment Participatory decision-making Incorporate students learning styles Cooperative Learning Moral reflection and reasoning Encourage students to rely on their own moral compass

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