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Title: Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind by Mary Field Belenky, Blythe McVicker Clincy, Mary Field Belenky, Jill Tarule, Blythe M. Clinchy, Nancy R. Goldberger ISBN: 0-465-09213-6 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: March, 1988 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.56 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Not only for academia, but for all thoughtful women
Comment: Introduced during a Women's Studies class (University of Wyoming), I return to this "researched" book again and again. My copy's heavily underlined and starred. Here goes a typical quote: (about learning) "Much time has been wasted (on women's) being good...." (209) A woman's route to knowledge begins with "silence," goes to passively receiving knowledge from authorities (usually men), then to "intuiting" knowledge (explanation of angel and crystals phase?), and to the final (or ultimate) of "integrating knowledge." Integrating means combining the intuitive with academic investigation. Along this route, many of us (women) are stuck, pre-distined by our familial backgrounds, or bumping through the educational system. This books gives us more and pre-dates REVIVING OPHELIA--more to measure where we are in our own learning
Rating: 5
Summary: A fascinating look at the psychology of the female mind.
Comment: Building on the work of previous psychologists interested in the study of the female mind, Mary Belenky and her colleagues have conducted interviews with a sample of 135 women enrolled in various teaching institutions (whether it be a university, community college, or some other institution such as a clinic to aid parents). The authors looked for patterns in the responses they received, and were able to draw together a concept of how women deal with knowledge.
The small size of the sample of women interviewed may be looked upon by some as a weak point of the study, but there are some strong motives behind this conscious choice the authors made. Belenky and her colleagues wished to get to know each woman personally, and to conduct a full, comprehensive interview with each one so that they could provide examples to accompany their theories, rather than simply quizzing an overwhelmingly large study group and giving their supporting evidence only in the form of numbers and statistics.
The authors have identified five different "ways of knowing" that women utilize. The first one addressed is give the name of silence. By "silence" the authors do not mean an absence of speech, but rather a state of being intellectually voiceless. They do not see themselves as beings capable of receiving or retaining knowledge, and are therefore subject to the control of those around them.
The second way of knowing discussed is termed "received knowledge." Received knowers believe themselves able to learn from others, and even to pass on what they have learned, but they do not see themselves as capable of independent, original thought. The authors identify both silent women and received knowers as dualists. They see things in terms of black and white, right and wrong, and one of the two is always seen as superior to the other.
"Subjective knowers" do realize that they have the ability to formulate knowledge for themselves, and rely on a strong inner voice with which they develop their thoughts. They believe all knowledge to be subjective, and every person's opinion to be equally valid, though applicable only to that person. In this sense, subjective knowers are multiplists rather than dualists. They recognize that there are shades of grey and that one answer to a problem may not be better than another.
"Procedural knowers," which might also be called objective knowers, base their development of knowledge solely on objective, scientific procedures. They distrust as fallible any sort of "gut instinct" that the subjective knowers realy so heavily on. Procedural knowers are also multiplists, however, in that they recognize that there may be more than one "right" answer in a particular situation. This way of knowing is identified as more masculine, and that which tends to be advocated in traditional educational institutions.
The last way of knowing is referred to as "constructed knowing." These women see all knowledge as contextual, and rely on both subjective and objective methods to arrive at "truth."
I would like to point out that, while one can get the impression from the text that these five ways of knowing are a sequence that one progresses through in the order they are discussed, this is not always the case. Any given woman may shift between any particular ways of knowing in any order, and over any period of time, and they may not ever experience every single one of them. In fact, I would venture to say that most women do not experience each one. A woman may also fall between two different ways of knowing, or may, at any given point in her life, utilize one way of knowing in one aspect of her life, and a different one in another. For example, a woman may be silent in her home environment, but act procedurally in her workplace.
Belenky and her co-authors go on to look at how these ways of knowing appear within family structures, and what the consequences of each on both parents and children are. They conclude by evaluating modern academic institutions and proposing a method of education that would be more suited to women.
The authors do not compare and contrast male and female ways of knowing in this study - male ways of knowing really aren't looked at at all, except to point out the influence traditional male thought has had on women. Neither do the authors hold one or the other up as being superior. They simply recognize that men and women tend to approach knowledge differently, and that ways of knowing that work for men may not work for women. This is certainly not any sort of final word in female psychology, any even the authors make note of the fact that others may interpret the results of their study differently, but it is a very worthwhile and thought-provoking read and I would highly recommend it.
Rating: 2
Summary: Nothing here about Knowing
Comment: If this book represents the level of academic excellence women bring to social studies, the feminist movement has just been set back a generation. Basing their analysis [if it can be called that] on but 135 women, all of them from the United States, they come to the conclusion that wimmen have a special way of knowing. Knowing what? Oppressive parents, demanding management, demands for academic competence? Where do these four get the idea that these experiences are unique to women? Men in their various endeavours experience identical fears from identical sources. Parents have different values than your generation? Welcome to the club. Your boss demands that you accomplish tasks in an unreasonable amount of time? How much midnight oil have any of us burned to complete an irrational deadline?
This type of book has led to the diversion of uncountable resources from areas sadly in need of support. We now have 'wimmen's studies' in universities. What have they contributed to a better understanding between genders? Since they only seem to study each other, what are we gaining? Are we learning more about people? Suggest to women that many of their urges are biologically based [see E.O. Wilson's 'Sociobiology'] and may be as much a product of their genes as the other animals, and the lynch mob response is truly alarming.
It would be interesting to know just what the differences and similarities between males and females are. We won't find out, however, so long as these quasi-cultural studies continue to sop up needed research funding. Even if the cultural aspect is more valid than the genetic, we aren't going to find out what women 'know' until a much greater scope of research is applied. Let these four travel to New Zealand, India, Australia, or other countries, even with a [female] translator and ask their questions. In the meantime, please don't foist off any more of these studies about how terrible men are until they are based on a solid foundation of research. This is a book on women's ways of thinking, not Knowing. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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Title: In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development by Carol Gilligan ISBN: 0674445449 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Knowledge, Difference and Power: Essays Inspired by Women's Ways of Knowing by Jill Tarule, Blythe Clinchy, Mary Belenky, Nancy Rule Goldberger ISBN: 046503733X Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 1996 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Women as Learners by Elisabeth Hayes, Daniele D. Flannery ISBN: 0787909203 Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: March, 2000 List Price(USD): $38.00 |
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Title: Women's Growth in Connection: Writings from the Stone Center by Janet L. Surrey, Judith V. Jordan, Alexandra G. Kaplan, Jean Baker Miller, Irene P Stiver ISBN: 0898624657 Publisher: Guilford Press Pub. Date: 19 April, 1991 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years : A Scheme by William G. Perry ISBN: 0787941182 Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: 23 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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