Belenky, et al. improve the understanding of the epistemological development of women. Perry confined his sample to the men of Harvard College. This parameterized the sample to well educated, privileged young men. Perry, by choosing a sample with the prerequisite of admission into Harvard College, has a sample population which had been screened, by the college, for a minimum level of epistemological development. In general, the sample male population had been supplied with all social and academic opportunities available to succeed in life according to the male-dominated, capitalistic society which is found in America.
The choice of women for Belenky et al.'s study varied to a greater degree; the study pulled from both ends of the social and economic stratum, although it did not deliberately test for epistemological development in women who were not at either end of the scales. Inclusion of women from welfare or social service agencies included women who were not able to succeed in a society with rules written by and for men. These women had not developed the ability to voice their own ideas and utilize language in an effective manner. Perry's study of men did not include a grouping of subjects who had not demonstrated competence in language utilization. The subjects in Perry's study can be more easily compared to the women studied by Belenky et al. chosen from academic settings. The findings for these two groups were more similar.
The differences between male and female patterns of thinking are strikingly shown by a comparison of the two studies findings. Men tend to develop epistemologically in isolation from each other and their subject matter. Women often tend to try to identify with, or relate to, the other person or the object under scrutiny. This is different from Perry's findings that men are able to separate themselves from the subject or object under study and more easily form adversarial positions for d...