The Man-Made World; or, Our Androcentric Culture was serialized in The Forerunner in 1909-10 and published as a book by Charlton Company in 1911. Gilman’s argument is comprehensive: human civilization has been built exclusively according to male values (competition, aggression, dominance, individual achievement), and this has produced institutions that serve male psychology at the expense of human welfare.
She examines each major institution in turn: government (organized as combat between parties rather than cooperation for the common good), industry (competitive rather than cooperative, producing waste and inequality), religion (projecting a male God and male values onto the divine), education (training for competition rather than cooperation), sport (celebrating violence), art (obsessed with sex and death), and ethics (double standards for men and women).
In each case, Gilman argues that the institution would function differently — more cooperatively, more sustainably, more humanely — if women had equal influence in shaping it. Her argument is not that women are morally superior but that their historical experience (cooperative childcare, domestic management, community building) has given them different priorities that civilization urgently needs.
Collecting The Man-Made World
First book edition (Charlton Company, New York, 1911): Cloth boards.
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $200–$500
- Very good: $80–$200