Riane Eisler

Riane Eisler studied at University of California, University of Valle and University of California, Berkeley. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is gender studies, feminism and cultural history. Works named in the authority record are The Chalice and the Blade.

• Name — Riane Eisler • Born — 22 July 1931 • Birthplace — Vienna, Austria • Other Names — Riane Tennenhaus Eisler • Education — University of California • Known for — The Chalice and the Blade (1987, 2022) The Real Wealth of Nations (2007) Nurturing Our Humanity (2019) • Website — * www.rianeeisler.com/ • www.centerforpartnership.org/ • Spouse — David Elliot Loye

Eisler was born in Vienna in 1931. In 1939, her family fled from the Nazis to Cuba. She and her parents lived in a slum in Havana for seven years, after which they emigrated to the United States, to Miami, New York, and Chicago before finally settling in Los Angeles. Eisler has degrees in Sociology and Law from the University of California. She was part of the Phi Beta Kappa society.

Eisler is an attorney, legal scholar, systems scientist, and author.

Eisler has published thirteen books. Her first book, published in 1977, was Dissolution: No-Fault Divorce, Marriage, and the Future of Women. Her second book, published in 1979, was on the Equal Rights Amendment. 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. 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. 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 the Editor-in-Chief of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies at the University of Minnesota. The children's troubadour Raffi, called Eisler's book on education, Tomorrow's Children "a pathway toward a child-honoring society."

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. 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.

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. Group hierarchy and relationships were now based on factors such as sex, race, and other differences. Violence was ultimately the basis for maintaining these hierarchies, and was built into the system. The "conquest of nature," massive inequality, and devaluing the work of caring for people started to become common practice. The work of caring for our natural life-support systems was also undervalued, taken for granted, and removed from the money economy. 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.

Riane Eisler is recorded with the occupation peace and conflict researcher. Recorded with the occupation human rights defender. Recorded with the occupation non-fiction writer. Recorded as anthropologist, historian, sociologist, human rights defender and writer. Established in FAST under 191616.