ABSTRACT

In Moral Boundaries Joan C. Tronto provides one of the most original responses to the controversial questions surrounding women and caring. Tronto demonstrates that feminist thinkers have failed to realise the political context which has shaped their debates about care. It is her belief that care cannot be a useful moral and political concept until its traditional and ideological associations as a "women's morality" are challenged.



Moral Boundaries contests the association of care with women as empirically and historically inaccurate, as well as politically unwise. In our society, members of unprivileged groups such as the working classes and people of color also do disproportionate amounts of caring. Tronto presents care as one of the central activites of human life and illustrates the ways in which society degrades the importance of caring in order to maintain the power of those who are privileged.

part One|21 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|21 pages

Moral Boundaries and Political Change

How Might an Ethic of Care Become Possible?

part Two|75 pages

Against “Women’s Morality”

chapter 2|35 pages

Universalistic Morality and Moral Sentiments

How Might an Ethic of Care Become Possible?

chapter 3|37 pages

Is Morality Gendered?

Privilege and the Psychology of Moral Development

part Three|82 pages

For An Ethic of Care

chapter 4|24 pages

Care

chapter 5|31 pages

An Ethic of Care

chapter 6|24 pages

Care and Political Theory