I thought that I was going to be overwhelmed with feminist views when I first checked this book out of the library; I was rather turned off. But when I started to read, I was intrigued. It was interesting to see the contrast between the different genders.

Seeing the developmental process really helped me to grasp why our genders seem so different, although not so different. I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to understand the developmental process between women and men, even if they were not going into a specific educational field of development.

I think that is important for people to understand how the opposite sex thinks, and works. There are so many interesting details concerning development that Gilligan presents. What stands out most in the book is how females tend to lean more towards relationships, and males tend to lean more towards rules and discipline. These points are expressed throughout her book and I was amazed at how much I learned

In Psychology, as in other academic disciplines, the normal process is to conduct research on significant numbers of subjects, have the methodology and results peer reviewed, publish the research, then perhaps cross over to mass media. Gilligan has used Harvard's cache to ignore this responsible and time honored protocol. She used tiny samples, reached unwarranted conclusions, rushed them into print on the mass market, and started making the talk show circuit. Now, over 20 years later and after thirty some reprintings, she still has not published her research! Furthermore, she refuses to allow other researchers to see her data!

Women may be less competitive than men, but there is no real evidence to support Gilligan's other claims that women, across the board are more caring and less abstract. Gilligan has used selective and tortured data to prop up her thesis that Western culture is toxic to America's adolescent girls. "In a Different Voice" is readable and thought provoking, and Gilligan has been extremely influential in that her "findings" have impacted attitudes, and led to a redistribution of scarce resources, but Harvard should be ashamed of the poverty of her scholarship.

Originally published in 1982, this book was in its 33rd printing when it was reissued in 1993. It describes the developmental differences between men and women and what that means. Harvard professor Carol Gilligan explains that male development has typically focused on separation, individuation, logic, and hierarchy. Female development, on the other hand, has emphasized attachment, relationship, connection, and communication. I had several "ahas!" while reading this book for the first time in 2003. While I've always discounted some of Sigmund Freud's work, it had never occurred to me that much of traditional psychological theory, including the work of Jean Piaget, Erik Erickson, and Lawrence Kohlberg, has also been based on observations of men, then applied to women. As a result of comparisons to male norms that don't fit their own experience, women have often felt discounted and inferior, rather than simply different. It made sense to me that these comparisons and significant developmental differences often result in women feeling selfish and guilty when focusing on their own needs, rather than those of others. It also fit my experience that men and women tend to respond differently to attachment and separation issues. According to Gilligan, men see danger more often in intimacy than in achievement, while women sense more danger in impersonal and competitive situations. Gilligan's observations have generated quite a bit of controversy over the years (as indicated by some of the previous reviews on this list!), but ring true for many women (including me), and have been used as a stepping stone for the work of many later authors.

Here's a supposition: Amazon[.com] asks "did you find this review helpful?" I suspect that "helpful" to most readers means "This review supports my bias." For example, if the review is positive, and you liked the book (or you think you will [or should] like the book), you'll be likely to say "this review is helpful." And so on.

Now to the book in question. Her evidence is weak, her thesis is vaguely put, her argument is disjointed, and you think this is a helpful review, right?

I was given every Freud text printed by WW Norton in college to read throughout my studies. Sitting in class I was alternately amazed by Freud's insights and thoroughly irritated by the defects of his analysis of female development. His theories seemed inconsistent, even containing contradictions, especially regarding the growth of girls into womanhood. It was extremely difficult to refute parts of his theory without denying the truth of how he spoke to boy's development, since his system of theory is all-encompassing and hermetic, and "It's rational precisely because its based on irrational subconscious thought" etc etc etc.

Suprisingly, Carol Gilligan, adds to the main body of psychological theory, counterposing slightly but mainly filling in grey areas, rather than directly opposing it. I was suprised by this because I had avoided Gilligan due to Hoff Sommers criticism, among others, which had led me to believe Gilligan's work was more ideological than scientific. Gilligan has suprising insights into the the critical age of adolesence for girls, and the postulation of a parallel understanding of morality is still as relevant now as it was when first written.
The form of morality she outlines fleshes out women's development as a fully realized system that understands the human condition full of falliabilities, rather than shrill repressive/mothering feminism I feared. As a bonus to readers wary of ranting, Gilligan is fairly focused on female development as opposed to social critique. Be aware, though, that her style does emulate Freud in that the writing is focused on specific examples to show broad conclusions, as opposed to vast statistical analysis.

Highly recommended.