Joining the Resistance - by Carol Gilligan (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Since the publication of her landmark book In a Different Voice, Carol Gilligan has transformed the way we think about women and men and the relations between them. It was 'the little book that started a revolution', and with more than 800,000 copies in print it has become one of the most widely read and influential books ever written on gender and human development.

In her new book Joining the Resistance Carol Gilligan reflects on the evolution of her thinking and shows how her key ideas were interwoven with her own life experiences. Her work began with the question of voice: who is speaking to whom, in what body, telling what stories about which relationships? By listening carefully she heard a voice that had been held in silence, and in the process realized the extent to which we - both women and men - had been telling false stories about ourselves.

In her subsequent work Gilligan found that adolescent girls resisted pressures to disengage themselves from their honest voices, and by joining their resistance she opened the way for the development of a more humane way of thinking about personal and political relationships. For the central conviction of her work today - and the central thesis of this book - is that the requisites for love and the requisites for citizenship in a democratic society are one and the same. Both voice and the desire to live in relationships inherent in our human nature, together with the capacity to resist false authority.

Combining autobiographical reflection with an analysis of key questions about gender and human development, this timely and highly readable book by one of America's greatest contemporary thinkers will appeal to a wide readership.

From the Back Cover

Since the publication of her landmark book In a Different Voice, Carol Gilligan has transformed the way we think about women and men and the relations between them. It was 'the little book that started a revolution', and with more than 800,000 copies in print it has become one of the most widely read and influential books ever written on gender and human development.

In her new book "Joining the Resistance" Carol Gilligan reflects on the evolution of her thinking and shows how her key ideas were interwoven with her own life experiences. Her work began with the question of voice: who is speaking to whom, in what body, telling what stories about which relationships? By listening carefully she heard a voice that had been held in silence, and in the process realized the extent to which we - both women and men - had been telling false stories about ourselves.

In her subsequent work Gilligan found that adolescent girls resisted pressures to disengage themselves from their honest voices, and by joining their resistance she opened the way for the development of a more humane way of thinking about personal and political relationships. For the central conviction of her work today - and the central thesis of this book - is that the requisites for love and the requisites for citizenship in a democratic society are one and the same. Both voice and the desire to live in relationships inherent in our human nature, together with the capacity to resist false authority.

Combining autobiographical reflection with an analysis of key questions about gender and human development, this timely and highly readable book by one of America's greatest contemporary thinkers will appeal to a wide readership.

Review Quotes

"It is fun moving through this book with Gilligan as she chances on this or that element of patriarchy - in Freud, Lysistrata, Hawthorne, Marvell, Oresteia. And it is enlightening to watch her demolish the wheeze of a child's support scheme which never was or is the simple mother/father/child triad."
Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy, and the Humanities

"This is a small book about love, hope and empathy in the context of Carol Gilligan's journey as a psychologist, a researcher, a writer and a feminist. It is a book that emerging social science researchers and clinical practitioners will find much in, particularly with regard to her passion for qualitative research and feminism."
Sex Roles

"An intelligent, mature and important contribution to the kind of feminism we all need and want ... Gilligan has written an important book which should be read by all, not only by girls and women, but also by boys and men. Her invitation for all to join the resistance should be heeded, for its beneficiaries belong to humans of all genders and ages. In this sense, we should all count ourselves as feminists of Gilligan's type and thus make way for a democratic society of caring equals."
USC Graduate Journal

"Helps heal the split between reason and emotion, mind and body, self and relationships, especially as they relate to gender identity. There is much food for thought in this work."
Scientific and Medical Network

"In Joining the Resistance, Gilligan makes a useful distincton in the debate about the ethic of care, by which her earlier work has been characterized and criticized, to emphasize her main theoretical point: The way forward out of patriarchy is a democratic solution that frees women and men to pursue a human ethic of care."
Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books

"Carol Gilligan is one of the pre-eminent psychologists of our time. Joining the Resistance is a leap forward in what has become her life-journey, connecting psychology to culture. The book stands on its own as a work of art; it is beautifully written and like the best sort of novel, full of surprises."
Richard Sennett, New York University

"Original work expands our humane capacity. In Joining the Resistance, Carol Gilligan continues to inspire us. Hers is a generous art, clearing a road that leads to a thriving place - one of love and justice. Will we allow ourselves?"
Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, author of Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx

About the Author

CAROL GILLIGAN is a university professor at New York University and author of In a Different Voice among other works. She was named by Time Magazine as one of the 25 most influential Americans.