Gilligan has set out to "remap" the traditional schemes of human development, and to reverse the traditional theories of development which place male-oriented reasoning on a higher level than female values. She is currently working on a theory that would combine a concern for both the self and for others and an emphasis on both justice and care at an ultimate stage of human development.
"There is a need to represent, in the mapping of development, a non-hierarchical image of human connection and to embody in the vision of maturity the reality of interdependence," she says.
Gilligan's Harvard colleagues say that she has made an important contribution to the field of developmental psychology. David McClelland, professor of psychology, says that Gilligan's work was "very much needed." The field was incomplete, he says, because prior theories dealt strictly with male development. He says that her perspective which he calls "the first of its kind" is sure to be influential in the field for years to come.
Jerome Kagan, professor of developmental psychology, says that "many books have been written about the psychology of sex differences, but the majority haven't been deep or profound. Carol is one of the few people who has written an insightful book on the subject." But McClelland says that while Gilligan's work has received acclaim in the academic community she has "quite a way to go to develop empirical backing for the female perspective she describes."
Gilligan is in the process of finishing up a four-year study of adolescent girls that she hopes will further substantiate some of the findings that she first articulated in her book.
These findings result from week long visits to the all girls Emma Willard school in Troy, N.Y. where Gilligan conducts extensive interviews with the students three times a year.
The justice and caring orientations manifest themselves at Emma Willard. One of the girls that she had placed in the "justice" category turned in two of her fellow classmates for cheating, while more of the "caring-oriented" girls than the "justice oriented" ones handed in a survey that Gilligan had distributed.
Gilligan uses these findings of both voices to back up her assertion that the "different voice" she uncovered does not completely characterize female moral reasoning, although it can dominate it.
She has found a concern with "fairness and rights" as well as "care and response" in females she has interviewed. She has also detected both "voices" in males. Thus, Gilligan argues, these combined perspectives should be included in a stage of maturity on a developmental scale.
Gilligan's work has influenced research efforts outside of her field, says Diana Eck, professor of religion. She adds that Gilligan's ideas about gender differences and moral reasoning are "a generative paradigm for thinking about women and ethics in a cross-cultural sense."
Trudy Hammer, associate principal at the Emma Willard School, says that as a result of Gilligan's findings on female moral develoment, the school is in the process of overhauling its curriculum and placing more emphasis on collaborative learning and less on the more autonomous, competitive techniques. "We're trying to move away from the male way of doing things" she says.
Hammer says that she has received countless phone calls from other secondary schools, co-ed and single-sex, expressing interest in Gilligan's work.
Although Gilligan is pleased with the national attention that her work has been receiveing, she has no interest in becoming a "media figure". "I went ahead with the Ms. article because I though it would encourage women to take their values seriously" she says.
She has had to turn down requests for media appearances and speaking engagements because "I don't have enough time for them between my family, my research, and my teaching".
Gilligan's courses on adolescents and moral development draw the largest enrollments of any courses at the Ed School, with more than 150 students enrolled in one of her courses last spring. "I've always been very involved in teaching, and I plan to stay involved. My teaching has always been closely connected to my research. My students provide an important source of my intellectual questioning."
Catherine Steiner-Adair, a doctoral student at the Ed School who is an advisee of Gilligan's and has taken several of her courses, says that Gilligan is a devoted teacher who shares her developing ideas with her students.
"Learning from her is a very different experience than from a professor who only presents finished ideas." Steiner-Adair adds.
Victor Williams, president of the Ed School Student Government, says that Gilligan was chosen by students to deliver last year's Commencement address because she has managed to show a "genuine concern" for the Ed School student while maintaing a high public profile.
"She has been able to keep the delicate balance between giving her time to the public at large and teaching and counseling Ed School students" he adds.