Carol Gilligan in In A Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development and Martin Luther King, Jr. in Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? explore the issue of separation or isolation and its impact on American society. This study will examine and compare these two authors' views on the morally problematic tendency of American individuals to separate from one another and from their communities, what contributes to that separation, and how it is to be overcome. This reader was most affected by King's book, primarily because of King's emphasis on the spiritual rather the psychological aspects of the problem and its possible solutions. However, the two books are not in conflict but are rather complementary in their authors' desire to heal the divisions in society and correct some of the misperceptions and misunderstandings that separated individuals and groups harbor about one another.
If we see the historical development of the moral and social consciousness of the community or nation as a continuum, then we can see the evidence of that development in the evolution of strategies and issues from King's 1967 book to Gilligan's 1982 book. There are clear differences between the two books and authors. King focuses on racial divisions while Gilligan focuses on gender separation. Both focus on individual and social morality and responsibility, but Gilligan uses a much more psychological approach than King, who focuses more on a spiritual approach. King addresses social action as a means of healing separation, whereas Gilligan focuses of psychological and sociological explanations and solutions.
As Gilligan notes, the question of separation implies relationship---to separate means that some connection is being broken. "Speaking about moral problems," Gilligan writes, equates with "describing the relationship between other and self" (Gilligan 1). The moral question of separation is not an either/or proposition, bu...