Carol Gilligan and Difference Feminism - Research Paper Example

Carol Gilligan and Difference Feminism Carol Gilligan provides new ground in psychology, and she challenges many psychologists with her theory on the benchmarks of personal and moral developments, which were drawn from male bias and do not apply to women. Gilligan relates women to men and suggests that women possess different moral principles and they follow different paths during their period of maturation. Gilligan brings her feminist view to challenge other psychologists such as Freud concerning the new life statement that states “The Personal is Political.” Focusing on the book “Difference Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development,” Gilligan makes a forceful dispute that psychology has scientifically rejected women in attempting to answer questions about how human beings make moral judgments, and claims the pre-existence and significance of different voices which involve feminine, relationship, and emotional-oriented in moral reasoning. In the book, Gilligan (11-35) provides an immediate sensation that is embraced by the newly developed studies on women. The moral psychology as explained in the book straddles both philosophy and psychology by evaluating human’s approaches to ethical dilemmas. Whilst ethical reasoning is a generic human skill, psychologists assume that women and men differ. They provide assumptions that reign well for many centuries. Difference in Sex during the Development of Moral Reasoning In her book, Gilligan provides many and major arguments. The most important involves human puzzle in moral dilemma by ethic of justice and ethic of care (Gilligan 99-100). Gilligan shows much care while writing moral orientation, which is not aligned with gender, but on empirical relationship between different voices and women. Gilligan (100-114) argues that men make decisions regarding personal rights, and through such views, Gilligan argues that women are responsible for other individuals. Because of such imprinting and improvable notions, Gilligan draws women view in terms of connectedness, whereas men are viewed with regards to separation. As such, Gilligan seeks to elevate the status of such connectedness where she focuses on several studies performed by her colleagues (Gilligan and Richards 77-90). Carol’s works emphasize on sex differences in moral reasoning. It also focuses on the violence perspective, the resolution of sexual conflicts, and the abortion decisions (Gilligan 411-417). These factors create greater challenges through the introduction of feminist perspective with respect to moral development. Focusing on Kohlberg views on feminism, Kohlberg’ theory shows that average female achieve moral judgments rating while males score law and order (Gilligan and Richards 90-104). With such assumption from the Kohlberg’s theory, Gilligan proposes that the findings from the theory demonstrate gender bias, and females are noted less matured compared to boys. Women and men follow diverse voices due to the fact that men organize social relationships through hierarchical order and they also pledge to morals of rights (Gilligan 20-30). On the other hand, Gilligan suggests that women value most their interpersonal sensitivity, connectedness, care, as well as people’s responsibility. Gilligan (112-114) also provides different developmental stages for females and she does not claim that only a single system is better for moral development among women. Instead, the systems are equally valid and by integration of complementary male justice and female care (Gilligan 416-417). Gilligan proposes that orientations through gender equality are essential for realizing full human potential during moral development (Gilligan 32-35). Gilligan’s book has landmark pieces for two good reasons. The book casts the doubt concerning the generazability of morality. Gilligan arguments are unknowingly rejecting the experiences and voices concerning humanity. Difference feminism as Gilligan’s perspective outlines different qualities of women and men and she asserts that there is no value judgment which can be placed on such qualities (Gilligan 417). Gilligan highlights all her findings concerning female and moral development as well as decision making, whereby she draws on different studies from children and university students. Focusing on the studies conducted by Kohlberg, females are seen to be lacking in ethical decision-making and reasoning when they are compared with males of similar ages. From such views, Gilligan realizes a problem and argues that Kohlberg’s early research in the development of moral stage theory based his studies on only white male as the subjects of the study (Gilligan 413-415). In light of the findings, Gilligan works with female participants who are facing politically and personally charged dilemma, such as the views on termination of pregnancy. From her study, Gilligan indicates that women are not deficient at all; rather they are using a style of ethical reasoning, which was not used during Kohlberg’s assessment (Gilligan 110-113). Conversely, Gilligan recommends that women she interviewed use ethic of care and their morality is based upon care from other people (Gilligan 35). The morality of women appeals to be universally codes of human behavior. She also believes that ethic of care is not evidently limited to women, but it is more common among all her feminine participants. Consequently, the moral care is not developed to replace the Kohlberg’s theory of morality, but to complement it. Concerning her views on psychology, Gilligan (417) consistently argues that she needs psychology to free itself in both theories and practically and from gender binary and hierarchy. With her assumptions on difference feminism, Gilligan considers that psychology is central to feminism, and feminism is among the greatest liberal movements in human behavior history (Gilligan 32-35). It is the practice to free democracy from the patriarchy, and in such sense, it is the association to free everyone from gender binary and the ladder of patriarchy (Gilligan and Richards 80-10). Free democracy is one of the effective ways of embarking on human conflicts rather than by using force and imposition of hierarchy. As Gilligan pursues her ideas and opinions on gender binary and hierarchy, where women have different moral voice, she finds herself moving beyond her colleagues’ views and opinions. Gilligan (114) believes that the standards and principles of maturity in moral development are commonly used in psychological assessment, but the ethics do not hold true for women. Gilligan thinks that development for women is set in the context of relationships and caring, rather than in the set of rules and rights (Gilligan 415-416). When men and women are reexamining the gender assumptions, Gilligan believes that women have powerful voice. She makes various contributions in the field of Women’s identity development and moral development. With her assumptions, Gilligan’s book has contributed to forceful reevaluations in the field of psychology, education, gender studies and in philosophy. The lasting influences of Gilligan’s arguments raise intriguing questions among many psychologists. Due to such questions, the book is criticized and Gillan’s claims are rejected by antifeminists. Some researchers claims that differences in moral reasoning has no influence on gender and on scrutiny, Gilligan’s qualitative based research has never provided necessary information to support her arguments. Works Cited Gilligan, Carol. “Knowing and not Knowing: Reflections on Manhood.” Psychotherapy and Politics International, 2. 2 (2004): 99-114. Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Print. Gilligan, Carol and Richards, David. The Deepening Darkness: Patriarchy, Resistance, and Democracy's Future. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Print. Gilligan, Carol. Kyra: A Novel. New York: Random House. Print.   Read More