Riane Eisler

The "Failure" of Liberalism: A Reassessment of Ideology from a New Feminine-Masculine Perspective

In the wake of the rightist resurgence there is increasing talk of the failure of liberalism. This is a report of afive-year ideological reassessment examining cross-cultural findings, modern and ancient history, archeology, social philosophy, psychological studies (including a new look at the authoritarian personality), and futurist studies from a new systems-analytic perspective. A basic finding is of an underlying ideological conflict with far more ancient roots, comprehensive effects on contemporary behavior, and profound implications for the human future than the liberalism-conservatism conflict as it has been generally perceived. On one side is an ideology which cross-historically and cross-culturally is characterized by a highly correlated configuration of male dominance, a generally hierarchic social organization, and a high degree of institutionalized social violence. On the other side is a much more ancient ideology -from which modern liberalism in part derives- characterized by an emphasis on human linking (rather than ranking), creativity, and peacefulness. The great ideological problem of our time is found to be rooted in the conflict of a manifest ideology based on a paradigm of linking and a persistent latent ideology in which one half of humanity, men, are still ranked by religion and science over the other half, women. While the rightist resurgence is powered by ideological consistency on both the manifest and latent levels, the failure of liberalism is found to derive ultimately from these irreconcilable ideological inconsistencies, which both psychologically and sociologically vitiate its forward drive.

Women, men, and management: Redesigning our future☆

Abstract Fundamental political and economic changes that are under way are examined, together with implications for the workplace and society at large, from the perspective of two underlying social organization types —the dominator and partnership models. Contemporary economic trends and gender issues are placed in both the context of fundamental social and ideological change, and the broader context of sociocultural evolution. Particular emphasis is placed on the issue of women as managers or leaders.

CREATIVITY, SOCIETY, AND THE HIDDEN SUBTEXT OF GENDER: TOWARD A NEW CONTEXTUALIZED APPROACH

Conventional categories of creativity are being deconstructed after the so-called postmodern debate. This article takes this process deeper, to what we will show is the hidden subtext of gender underlying how creativity has been socially constructed. It also proposes a more contextualized approach to creativity that takes into account both its individual and social dimensions and how this relates to what Eisler (1987) has called a partnership rather than dominator model of society.

The Dynamics of Cultural and Technological Evolution: Domination Versus Partnership

There is growing consensus that we need a new paradigm if we are to solve the global problems that are the result of actions and policies stemming from prevailing paradigms or cognitive maps. Theories are cognitive maps. This article summarizes cultural transformation theory, which proposes that to solve our mounting global problems we need a clearer understanding of the self-organizing interaction of two basic movements in cultural evolution. The first consists of technological phase changes, including the most recent shift from industrial to electronic, nuclear, and biochemical technologies. The second consists of shifts in a systems orientation to what, based on three decades of transdisciplinary research, the author identifies as the socio-economic, gender, and cultural configurations characteristic of the dominator and partnership models. The article calls for a reassessment of earlier theories as the basis for effective action to accelerate the shift to a world orienting to the partnership rather than dominator model as a basis for a sustainable, equitable, and peaceful future.

Economics as If Caring Matters

Why is caring for children not a more central part of economic models? Indeed, caring in general is undervalued and underpaid. Why is that, when it is so vital to both economic and social health? The author calls for a different model of sustainable growth and development.

Woman, man, and the evolution of social structure

Abstract This paper (presented during the Physis: Inhabiting the Earth conference, Florence, Italy, October 28–31, 1986) examines the evolution of social structure from the new perspective of findings indicating that how the relations between the female and male halves of humanity are structured has profoundly affected human social organization as well as the direction of cultural evolution. Drawing from archeological data and the study of ancient myths, it briefly traces the development of western culture through Paleolithic, Neolithic, and historic times. It also presents data indicating that there is a viable alternative to the present, potentially lethal, emphasis on technologies of domination and destruction.

Family Structure and Family Violence

The term ‘family violence’ encompasses a wide range of adverse dynamics perpetrated by a range of family members, referring most commonly to abuse or violence between husbands and wives, or parental abuse toward children. Family violence is characterized by a pattern of control and intent to coerce or harm, and takes many forms, from psychological abuse to physical cruelty to sexual exploitation. The study of family violence is a relatively new field, only a few decades old. Even in this short period it has become evident that family violence – more specifically, violence against women and children – is a deeply entrenched and worldwide practice. That work in this area is so recent reflects the fact that for most of recorded history until recent times parental violence against children and men’s violence against their wives were condoned – and out of the realm of discourse about justice and human rights. In the West, the traditions of wife and child abuse have only recently been challenged in law and policies of enforcement.

Technology, gender, and history: Toward a nonlinear model of social evolution

Abstract This paper presents a new nonlinear cognitive map of social evolution— sharply departing from the conventional 19th century‐based theories of linear stages from barbarism to civilization. It draws from a data base that includes the whole of humanity (both its female and male halves). And it takes into account new data from archaeology indicating that civilization is not only thousands of years older than previously thought, but originally oriented more closely to what the author calls a Partnership rather than a Dominator model of social organization. Covering over 25,000 years of social history, this article charts major technological phase changes—from the agricultural revolution circa 10,000 years ago to the industrial and more recently electronic revolutions or modern times—from the perspective of the tension between the Dominator and Partnership models. Most critically, it shows how the present period of social disequilibrium leads us to either an evolutionary breakdown or breakthrough, with...

Gylany: the balanced future

Abstract Futurist projections indicate that androcracy is rapidly taking us to an evolutionary dead-end. But the two projected androcratic futures—a totalitarian future or no future at all—are not our only alternatives. There is the third alternative, the humanistic future to which the concept of gylany, both the balanced core and the logical requirement of our cultural evolution, provides the key.

Human Possibilities: An Integrated Systems Approach

A basic principle of systems theory is that if we do not look at the whole of a system, we cannot see the connections between its various components. This article describes the authors personal and research journey developing a new method of inquiry and a new theory of cultural evolution that takes into account the whole of our history (including prehistory), the whole of our species (both its male and female halves), and the whole of social relations (from politics and economics to family and other intimate relations). It reveals connections and patterns not visible using smaller data bases and casts a new, more hopeful, light on our past, present, and the possibilities for our future.