Carol Gilligan

Danna Byers and Kaylyn Ruddy

Background• Born in New York City- November 28th,

1936• Only child• Father was a lawyer, mother was a

nursery school teacher• Studied modern dance during graduate

studies

Education

• Received BA summa cum laude in English literature from Swarthmore College, PA

• Received master’s degree in clinical psychology from Radcliffe college, MA

• Received Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University

Work Experience

• Began teaching career at Harvard University in 1967

• Received tenure with the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1986

• Gilligan taught for two years at the University of Cambridge (1992-1994)

• In 2002 she left Harvard to join New York University as a full professor with the School of Education and the School of Law

• Is currently a visiting professor with the University of Cambridge

Personal Life

• Married to James Gilligan, M.D., who directed the Center for the Study of Violence at Harvard Medical School

• Plays piano• Awards; 1992 Grawemeyer Award in

Education• 1996 Time Magazine one of the 25 most

influential Americans • 1997 Heinz Award

Theory Devlopment

• 1970- research assistant for Lawerence Kohlberg

• Studied moral development in girls

• Vietnam/abortion

• Criticized Kohlberg’s work

• Biased against women

• Stages of moral development

Theory

• Asks women 4 questions: who is speaking? In what body? Telling what story? And in what cultural framework is it presented?

• Women are psychologically different from men

• Moral development: selfish, social/conventional morality, post conventional/principled morality

Critics

• Cristina Hoff Sommers, Ph. D. claims Gilligan failed to produce data from research

• Claims Gilligan used anecdotal evidence- unable to duplicate work and samples are too small

Value to Practitioners• Founder of a difference feminism

• It encourages society to appreciate the different ways of thinking between men and women and to value them equally

• Within classrooms value both gender opinions and ways of thinking

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Gilligan

• http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/gilligan.html

• For more information and a special interview with Carol Gilligan please go to this website

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NHdSVknB5Q