Carol Gilligan (1982) sparked a heated academic debate with her popular book In a different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development. In this book Gilligan departs from the traditional sequential stage modals advocated by luminary psychologists such as Piaget (1925) and Kohlberg (1969) and develops her own moral orientation model. Gilligan criticises these theories as she claims they are insensitive to females 'different voice' on morality and therefore result in women achieving lower stages, thereby labelling them morally inferior to men.
Gilligan (1982; also see Langdale' 1986; Lyons, 1983; and Noddings, 1984) proposed that male and females hold different life orientations, with particular emphasis on their moral belief structure. According to Walker et al., (1987) a moral orientation 'represents a conceptually distinctive framework or perspective for organising and understanding the moral domain' (p.844). Gilligan's moral orientation model states that males typically have a justice/rights orientation and females have a care/response orientation. For the purposes of this study a justice/rights orientation and a care/response orientation is operationalised according to the definitions utilised in Brown et al's. (1990) Reading Narratives of Conflict and Choice for Self and Moral Voices: A Relational Method. A care voice is defined by Brown et al. (1990) as describing 'relationships in term s of attachment/detachment, connection or disconnection.' (p.30.). A justice voice is defined as describing ' relationships in terms of inequality/equality, reciprocity or lack of respect' (p.30.).
Gilligan believes that males typically have a justice/rights orientation because of their individualistic and separate concept...
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...amily context the female subject voiced a more care orientation. (One of two t-tests however was not significant). In a neutral context significant gender differences were observed. Luedecke et al., (1998) suggest that perhaps a 'different voice' is perhaps an inaccurate term and a more suitable view would be to see differences in moral orientation as a result of a 'different role' for they argue that as long society holds gender specific role orientations, gender differences will be found. These two studies are interesting in terms of the research in question here. Will female soldiers have a more justice-orientated view if they present dilemmas regarding work? Will female soldiers have a more male justice-orientated view due to the intense training and male dominated environment in which they are working in? Do gender specific roles exist in an army environment?
Gamble first seeks to refute Darwinian perspectives of male superiority. In referencing the “superior degree of development” (Gamble 74) of “female in all the orders of life below mankind” (74), Gamble demonstrates an explicit understanding of Darwin’s rhetoric strategies. By countering Darwin’s argument on the same level of evolutionary science and societal class, Gamble challenges ideals on the essential characteristics of women. Gamble’s intimate understanding of Darwin’s theory sets her as an equal to Darwin. Gamble furthers this response by alluding to Darwin’s own “law of equal transmission of characters to both sexes” (76) in the development of females. Gamble’s use of Darwin’s own argument effectively bolsters her own ethos, a point critical to reaching a society still dominated by males. This parallel structure not only suggests a fallacy in Darwin’s reasoning, but one in the social dogma of male supremacy. However, it is Gamble’s novel point on highlighting those very differences that is crucial to her defense of women. Gamble cites the “distinctive characters” (77) of women including “perception and intuition” (77), along with “greater powers of endurance” (77) as unique traits of women. While aforementioned and subsequently dismissed by Darwin, Gamble’s
Margaret Wente’s Globe and Mail article on what women could learn from men presents itself as dogmatic and controversial. Wente’s intent is to persuade their readers into believing that men have become a scapegoat for society yet women could learn lessons from men. Although Wente does have a clear purpose in explaining what women could learn from men, her argument is weakened by her lack of substantial evidence and her appeal to emotions being manipulative.
Sally’s prescriptive moral theory combines two separate and unrelated principles to create an all-encompassing moral theory to be followed by moral agents at all times. The first is rooted in consequentialism and is as follows: 1. Moral agents should cause moral pain or suffering only when the pain or suffering is justified by a moral consideration that is more important than the pain or suffering caused. The second is an autonomous theory, where other’s autonomy must be respected, it is 2. Moral agents should respect the autonomy of moral agents. This requires always taking into account the rational goals of moral agents when making decisions that may affect them. The more important the goals are to the agents, the greater the importance of not obstructing them. Since Sally’s theory has two separate principles, she accounts for the possibility that they will overlap. To do so, she includes an option on how to resolve the conflicts. According to the theory, if the principles lead to conflicting actions, then moral agents should resolve the conflict on a case-by-case basis by deciding which principle should be followed given the proposed actions and circumstances.
In Antigone by Sophocles, Creon becomes in power after a civil war in which the male children of the king and the king are killed in battle. The new king puts a law in place where no one can bury Polyneices or there would be consequences. Creon faces this situation and other situations in which his morals are tested. Using Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, the reader can track him changing from the beginning to the end of the drama. Creon shows little signs of being morally development; however, he begins to development morally throughout the play and towards the end.
Throughout our lives we undergo many developmental changes. Two developmental areas of interest are self image and moral development. As we move through the developmental stages, the way we interpret sex roles and our self-image according to those changes, as does the way we interpret moral dilemmas. There are several theories that claim different forms of development parallel with our sex role self-concept (i.e Loevinger’s ego development theory. Leahy & Eiter, 1980). Our sex role self-concept may also parallel the development of post conventional moral thinking; meaning that those who are more androgynous will have higher post conventional moral thinking as both require not seeing things in black and white so to speak.
Lawrence Kohlberg found an accurate outline t the moral stages of a person with his justice perspective , but those stage are created through the care perspective I believe. Kohlberg's three stages are the result of Carol Gilligan's care perspective. In the example of a moral dilemma on page 310 ; I believe that the husband acted with a Postconventional moral approach but that the reason he did was based on his relationship and concern for his wife's death. The prosocial behavior can explain why he choose the route to steal the drug; his parents of social surroundings probably encoded in his conscience that no matter the risk it is best to save the ones we love. Prosocial behavior I believe is the over all answer to how ones morals are created
(4) Gilligan. C, (1982). In a different voice, psychological theory and women's development. Harward University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Whitbeck, Caroline. Theories of Sex Difference. Women and Values: Readings in Recent Feminist Philosophy. Edited by Marilyn Pearsall. Wadsworth Publishing Company: California. 1986. 34-51.
Contemporary feminists have a big problem with traditional ethical theories because of their basis that women can never be fully moral. Traditional ethical theories suggest that an excess of emotion indicates a deficiency of reason. This could not be farther from the truth for lack of emotion is not a requirement for rational reasoning. Traditional ethical theories do not accept the morality of reasoning. For example, the Kantian categorical imperative asks us to reject reason and be completely impartial while calculating morality. In conclusion contemporary feminists have made much progress in transforming the gender hierarchy of traditional ethical theories a...
“The decisions used to be so much easier, the course of action so much clearer. There was obviously the right thing to do. When did the right decision become so clouded? How did it become so blurred, and why for that matter? What should I do, and how do I want to play this”? (Jeff Davis: The Thinking Man’s Quote) I think we all have had that question dance through our mind at times when we had to make a decision that may impact our lives. I wished I had a dime for the countless times I asked for guidance and prayed and hoped I made the correct moral decisions. I think Carol Gilligan a renowned Psychologist and feminist Philosopher had asked that question once or twice herself. I even would venture to say that the
Carol Gilligan is one of the first to address gender differences in psychology. She argued that the sexes think differently, notably when dealing with moral problems.Her most popular addition to modern psychology was her rework of Lawrence Kohlberg 's theory of moral development. Gilligan challenged that differences were based on social influences and gender attitude, this often disesteemed women 's way of thinking. With her theories of female moral development and decision-making, she focused on studies in both children and college students. While there has been criticism of her works, Carol Gilligan has changed the modern psychology with her feminist views. She has paved the women in the field and the research of psychology
Through years of history women have been subjugated. They are seen as vehicles for reproduction and sexual objects. Yet this is a mentality that is directly related with moral theory. Since this is for the most part a male dominated society, women's views are often seen as less developed and sophisticated. Carol Gilligan identified that this can be described in certain "morality approaches". The male approach to morality is that individuals have certain basic rights, and that one has to respect the rights of others. The female approach to morality is that people have responsibilities towards others. Her studies portray that men illustrate a "dog eat dog" state of mind; by any means necessary they will acquire all that they can for their own personal gain. It also shows that women realize that people are here to assist one another. Gilligan outlined three stages of moral development; first being the pre-conventional (or selfish) stage, in which a person starts with the attitude that everything must benefit that individual only. Second is conventional morality, where the understanding emerges that it is wrong to act only in one's own interests, and that one should value the interests of others. Lastly, is post-conventional morality which is a combination ...
During the past few decades, we have made great adjustments in accepting new definitions of gender roles. Social media, family, and friends all have an affect on our lives and how we often portray gender roles. However as the years have passed, there have been new opening opportunities for both genders. Women are no longer discriminated against at their workplace. A large amount of women that work full time, while having serving are as the primary responsibility for taking care of their home and
...and skills applicable to our daily life. One even recommended to subject females into mandatory military training. The participant’s belief is that males can help in defending the country against threats while females can help in caring and giving initial response to victims of disasters and emergencies.
arose in response to the changing role of women in society (Rich and Walker 1.)