{"id":8816,"date":"2026-04-02T11:28:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T03:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/?p=8816"},"modified":"2026-04-02T13:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T05:46:31","slug":"carol-gilligans-ethics-of-care-vs-ethics-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/carol-gilligans-ethics-of-care-vs-ethics-of-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Carol Gilligan&#8217;s Ethics of Care vs. Ethics of Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Carol Gilligan\u2019s theory emerged as a direct critique of <strong>Lawrence Kohlberg<\/strong>\u2019s stages of moral development. While working as Kohlberg\u2019s research assistant, Gilligan noticed that women often scored lower on his scale, typically landing at Stage 3 (focusing on interpersonal relationships) rather than Stage 4 or 5 (focusing on abstract justice).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She argued that Kohlberg\u2019s model wasn&#8217;t showing that women were &#8220;less moral,&#8221; but rather that his model was biased toward a <strong>&#8220;Justice Perspective&#8221;<\/strong> (common in men) and ignored the <strong>&#8220;Care Perspective&#8221;<\/strong> (common in women).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gilligan suggested that there are two distinct ways of looking at moral problems:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ethics of Justice:<\/strong> Focused on individual rights, logic, and universal rules. Morality is about &#8220;not interfering with others&#8217; rights.&#8221; (Kohlberg&#8217;s focus).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ethics of Care:<\/strong> Focused on interpersonal relationships, compassion, and responsibility. Morality is about &#8220;not turning away from someone in need.&#8221; (Gilligan&#8217;s focus).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gilligan\u2019s Three Stages of Moral Development<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Similar to Kohlberg, Gilligan proposed three levels, but hers focus on how the &#8220;logic of care&#8221; evolves from self-interest to a universal concern for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/743\/2026\/04\/image-8-scaled.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" src=\"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/743\/2026\/04\/image-8-1024x572.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8827\" srcset=\"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/743\/2026\/04\/image-8-1024x572.png 1024w, https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/743\/2026\/04\/image-8-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/743\/2026\/04\/image-8-768x429.png 768w, https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/743\/2026\/04\/image-8-1536x857.png 1536w, https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/743\/2026\/04\/image-8-2048x1143.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Level 1: Orientation to Individual Survival<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>At this stage, the woman\u2019s primary focus is on herself and what is best for her own survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Transition:<\/strong> From <strong>Selfishness to Responsibility<\/strong>. The individual begins to realize that they are connected to others and that &#8220;doing the right thing&#8221; involves more than just looking out for oneself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Level 2: Goodness as Self-Sacrifice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In this stage, &#8220;goodness&#8221; is defined as caring for others. The woman adopts societal values where she subordinates her own needs to the needs of others (parents, children, partners). She feels that being a &#8220;good person&#8221; means being self-sacrificing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Transition:<\/strong> From <strong>Goodness to Truth<\/strong>. The individual realizes that self-sacrifice is not the same as care. They begin to see that their own needs are just as valid as the needs of others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Level 3: The Morality of Non-Violence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the highest level, where the individual achieves a balance between caring for others and caring for oneself. Morality is defined by a desire to avoid hurt to <strong>anyone<\/strong>, including oneself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Logic:<\/strong> &#8220;I have a responsibility to care for my neighbor, but I am also my neighbor.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carol Gilligan\u2019s theory emerged as a direct critique of Lawrence Kohlberg\u2019s stages of moral development. While working as Kohlberg\u2019s research assistant, Gilligan noticed that women often scored lower on his scale, typically landing at Stage 3 (focusing on interpersonal relationships) rather than Stage 4 or 5 (focusing on abstract justice). She argued that Kohlberg\u2019s model &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/carol-gilligans-ethics-of-care-vs-ethics-of-justice\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Carol Gilligan&#8217;s Ethics of Care vs. Ethics of Justice<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":851,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational-psychology","category-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8816"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8828,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8816\/revisions\/8828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/hadijahjaffri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}