Chapter29 standpoint theory (1)

Dr. Marquita Byrd
marquita.byrd@sjsu.edu
2013 copyright Dr. Marquita Byrd 1

 Definition of
Standpoint: An
achieved position
based on social
location that lends
an interpretative
aspect to a person’s
life.
 Standpoint Theory:
Provides framework
for understanding
systems of power
Everyday people, not
the elite, provide
the framework for
Standpoint Theory

 Born is 1943
 Feminist Philosopher
 Currently a professor
of Political Science at
the University of
Washington.
Known for her work in:
 Feminist epistemology
 Stanpoint Theory
 Feminist Standpoint
Theory
 Her Standpoint Theory
derives from Marxism

 History Began in 1807, When
German philosopher Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel discussed how
master-slave relationships
engendered different standpoints.
 Harstock published “The Feminist
Standpoint: Developing the ground
for a Specifically Feminist
Historical Materialism.”
 Harstock’s main objective was to
“make women present.”
 Harstock expansion on Karl Marx’s
Marxist Theory
 Nancy Harstock lableled
Standpoint Theory as Feminist
Standpiont Theory.

 All Knowledge is a product of social
activity, and thus knowledge can be
truly objective. (objectivity of
knowledge is questionable)
 Cultural Conditions “typically
surrounding women’s lives produce
experiences and understandings
that routinely differ from those
produced by conditions framing
men’s lives.”
 It is a worthwhile endeavor to
understand the distinctive features
of women’s experience.
 We can only know women’s
experience by attending to women’s
interpretations of this experience.

First Assumption: Individuals location in the class structure
shapes and limits their understandings of social relations.
Second Assumption: Feminist Standpoint Theory assumes that all
standpoints are partial, but those of the ruling class can
actually harm those of the subordinate group.
Third Assumption: The ruling group structures life in such a way
as remove some choices from the subordinate group.
Fourth Assumption: The subordinate group has to struggle for
their vision of social life.
The final Assumption: The struggle results in a clearer, more
accurate vision for the subordinate group than that
possessed by the ruling class.

 Standpoint: a location, shared by a group experiencing outsider
status, within the social structure, that lends a particular kind of
sense making to a person’s lived experience.
 Hartsock’s perspective: a standpoint is not simply an interested
position but is interested in being engaged.
 Outsider within: a person in a normally marginalized social position
who has gained access to a more privileged location
Outsider within the
dominant
class
race
gender

 Partial: a recognition that no one has a complete
view of the social hierarchy.
Accuracy: the ability to see more than what’s
available to one’s own specific social location.
 Situated Knowledge's: What anyone knows is
grounded in context and circumstance.
 Sexual division of labor- allocation of work on the
basis of sex

According to this approach:
 A standpoint is a place from which human beings view the world.
 A standpoint influences how the people adopting it social
construct the world.
 A standpoint is a mental position from which life is viewed
 A standpoint is a position from which objects or principles are
viewed and according to which they are compared and judged
 The inequalities of different social groups create differences in
their standpoints.
 All standpoints are partial; so (for example) Feminist standpoint
coexists with other standpoints.

Female
Senior Citizen
African American
Educated
College
Professor
MidwesternerMinister
Middle Class [according to the federal
government] (But this is what my house looks
like!!!)

 Understanding the relationship between the dominant (status quo)
standpoint and communication is important. It makes us aware of how
the dominant tell us which concepts are understandable, which claims are
heard and understood by whom, which features of the world are
perceptually important, and which reasons are understood to be relevant
and forceful, as well as which conclusions are credible.[1]
 Understanding allows us to resist those interpretations
Oppressive
interpretations
Resistance

 Too narrow: In recent years theorists have expanded
the Standpoint theory to include all oppressed people,
marginalized people, people who live in the
borderlands.
 I don’t think oppressed people necessarily have a more
accurate picture of what is going on than the dominant.
The oppressed know more about the negatives in the
system because they see from the bottom up.
 Dominant and oppressed live in different realties and
both have partial views of the system.

 Gender___________
 Race_______
 Age___________
 Class__________
 Ability__________
 Religion__________
 Occupation___________
 Nationality_____________
 Which three are your most important standpoints?
Being Your _____ means………

Chapter29 standpoint theory (1)

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