Riane Eisler

Writing

Eisler has published thirteen books. Her first book, published in 1977, was Dissolution: No-Fault Divorce, Marriage, and the Future of Women.^{[citation needed]} Her second book, published in 1979, was on the Equal Rights Amendment.^{[citation needed]}

In 1987, Eisler published her third book, The Chalice and the Blade, which drew on ten years of multidisciplinary research. Popęda describes the essence of the book as showing "that human history is not the inevitable march of male domination, that for millenia our ancestors organized themselves around partnership rather than ranking, and that a more peaceful alternative isn't utopian, but [is] our recoverable past and likely future." The book sold over 500,000 copies and been translated into 30 languages. Ashley Montagu called the book "The most important book since Darwin's Origin of Species."

In 1995, Eisler published Sacred Pleasure, which Gloria Steinem called "Eisler's most stunning, far-reaching, and practical gift – both to readers and to a world that must change or perish."

In 2000, she published a memoir, The Gate.

In 2002, Eisler published The Power of Partnership.^{[citation needed]} Marianne Williamson said that the book provides "the map to a world that works for all of us."

In 2019, Eisler Published Nurturing Our Humanity.^{[citation needed]} Jennifer Siebel Newsom described by it saying it "outlines the roadmap for a world that leads with partnership – where empathy, care, and community are valued above all, and each can fulfill our full human potential."

Eisler was^[when?] the Editor-in-Chief of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies at the University of Minnesota.^{[citation needed]}

The children's troubadour Raffi, called Eisler's book on education, Tomorrow's Children "a pathway toward a child-honoring society."^{[citation needed]}

The Center for Partnership Systems

In 1987, in partnership with her late husband David Elliot Loye, Eisler founded The Center for Partnership Studies, which was later renamed The Center for Partnership Systems.^{[citation needed]} The organization is "dedicated to research, education, and building tools to construct economic and social systems that support human beings and the planet that sustains us."

As of 2024, the Center acts as a digital hub of resources, tools, connections, and community focused on partnership-oriented social change.^{[citation needed]}

Partnership vs. domination

In The Chalice and the Blade (1987) Eisler coined the terms "partnership" and "domination" to describe two underlying forms of society. These forms transcend conventional social categories like right/left, religious/secular, Eastern/Western, capitalist/socialist.

Eisler argued that partnership-oriented societies are characterized by peace, equity, gender equality, sustainability, and caring. Dominator-oriented societies are characterized by sexism and other forms of in-group versus out-group rankings such as racism and anti-Semitism, as well as chronic war (nuclear bombs, technological warfare), ecological destruction, and climate change.

Eisler's research, which references the work of archaeologists Marija Gimbutas, James Mellaart, and Ian Hodder, as well as anthropologist Douglas Fry, shows that for millennia most human societies were built on a partnership-oriented structure. This meant society supported the human capacity to give, nurture, and sustain life. Caregiving and shared responsibility were both important. According to archaeology, the fall into domination occurred between five and ten thousand years ago.

Eisler's research argues that the switch from partnership to domination led to a shift from in-group versus out-group attitudes.^{[citation needed]} Group hierarchy and relationships were now based on factors such as sex, race, and other differences.^{[citation needed]} Violence was ultimately the basis for maintaining these hierarchies, and was built into the system.^{[citation needed]} The "conquest of nature," massive inequality, and devaluing the work of caring for people started to become common practice.^{[citation needed]} The work of caring for our natural life-support systems was also undervalued, taken for granted, and removed from the money economy.^{[citation needed]} Domination systems also normalize violence – from abusive authoritarian families, to the promotion of violence in modern politics, to destructive warfare between nations. Violence becomes a means to maintain power-over others as a social norm.