In a Different Voice

In a Different Voice
AuthorCarol Gilligan
LanguageEnglish
SubjectGender
Publication date
1982
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback)
Pages184
ISBN0-674-44544-9

In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development is a book on gender studies by American professor Carol Gilligan, published in 1982, which Harvard University Press calls "the little book that started a revolution".[1]

In the book, Gilligan criticized Kohlberg's stages of moral development of children. Kohlberg's data showed that girls on average reached a lower level of moral development than boys did. Kohlberg's theory (based on his 1958 dissertation) had been developed on a sample of boys (as he had been advised to do). Gilligan stated that the scoring method Kohlberg used tended to favor a principled way of reasoning (one more common to boys) over a moral argumentation concentrating on relations, which would be more amenable to girls.[1] The analysis by Gilligan about Kohlberg's theory was later challenged, although the debate about Kohlberg's model not representing the full scope of the moral domain remains active.[2]

  1. ^ a b In a Different Voice — Carol Gilligan | Harvard University Press
  2. ^ Walker, L. J. (2006). "Gender and Morality". In Killen, Melanie; Smetana, Judith G. (eds.). Handbook of moral development. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. pp. 93–115. ISBN 978-0805847512.