 Carol Gilligan was born on November 28,

1936, in New York City. She graduated

summa cum laude from Swarthmore
College. She went on to do advanced
work at Radcliffe University receiving a
Masters in clinical psychology .
 She earned her doctorate in social
psychology from Harvard University in
Gilligan began teaching at Harvard in
1967 with renowned psychologist Erik
Erikson.
 Gilligan's primary focus came to be
moral development in girls. Her interest
in these dilemmas grew as she
interviewed young men thinking about
enlisting for the Vietnam War and
women who were contemplating
abortions.
 Gilligan noticed that approximately fifteen of the twenty-five women
who signed up for Kohlberg’s class on moral development dropped. Only
about five out of fifty men that enrolled were left. Gilligan found that
women in the class posed difficult questions of human suffering that
could not be adequately addressed by moral theories.
 Her first paper about moral development, "In a Different Voice—
Women’s Conceptions of Self and Morality,” included interview notes
from the women who left the class about their moral perspective .

 Her research reflected that women’s development was set within the
context of caring and relationships, rather than in compliance with an
abstract set of rights or rules (Young, 1999). She asked four questions
about women's voices:
 who is speaking?
 what body?
 what story?
 what cultural framework is the story presented?
Gilligan would go on to criticize Kohlberg's work. This was based on two
things:
 First, he only studied privileged, white men and boys. She felt that
this caused a biased opinion against women.
 Secondly, in his stage theory of moral development, 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.

 She outlines three stages of moral development progressing from

selfish, to social or conventional morality, and finally to post
conventional or principled morality.
 Carol Gilligan has been instrumental in research on adolescence,
moral development, women's development and conflict resolution. As a
feminist, scholar, professor and author, she has helped to form a new
direction for women.

 " Women must learn to deal to their own interests and to the
interests of others .” She thinks that women hesitate to judge because
they see the complexities of relationships.
Pre-conventional level

Conventional level

Post-conventional level
 STAGE GOAL

Goal is individual survival

PRECONVENTIONAL

Self Sacrifice is goodness

CONVENTIONAL

Principle of non violence: do not

harm self or other.
POST CONVENTIONAL
Level 1: Orientation to
Individual Survival

First Transition: Selfishness to

Responsibility

Level 2: goodness as self

sacrifice

Second transition: goodness to

truth

Level 3: Morality of non-

violence
Pre Conventional -Person only cares for themselves in
order to ensure survival -This is how everyone is as
children In this transitional phase, the person 's
attitude is considered selfish, and the person sees the
connection between themselves and others.

Conventional -Responsibility -More care shown for

other people. -Gilligan says this is shown in the role of
Mother & Wife -Situation sometimes carries on to
ignoring needs of self. In this transitional phase,
tensions between responsibility of caring for others and
caring for self are faced.

Post Conventional -Acceptance of the principle of care

for self and others is shown. -Some people never reach
this level.