Standpoint theory

Question 1

What is standpoint theory?

Answer 1

• It is a viewpoint or standing from a particular historical and social location
• it is a feminist Marxist theory
• some argue that standpoint is not simply a view but an achievement for which oppressed groups must struggle
• important objective of standpoint theory is to map the conceptual practice through which instiutions serve oppressive forms of power
• A way of empowering oppressed groups, of valuing their experiences and providing oppositional consciousness
• Standpoint theory manifests in ways that the hegemony (dominant narrative) is challenged

Question 2

What are some critiques of the theory

Answer 2

• it essentialises groups such as categorising the standpoint of women but how can the perspective of women really be captured in such a broad umbrella with such a diverse range of life experiences
• bias paradox: historically standpoint and social theories have always been presented by androcentric, white, wealthy males and yet in transferring this standpoint to underprivliged groups of society is it simply just inversing the privlige, does it transform power relations or simply flip them
• bias is a central part and important to standpoint theory because it recognises that in some sense everything is bias as knowledge is socially, culturally and historically situated
• rather than removing bias it simply inverts it
• Some critics argue that the focus on the oppression of women and other marginalised groups that the research has abandoned the epistemological uses of concepts of truth, objectivity, social neutrality and good method

Question 3

Importance of relativism

Answer 3

• the idea that all knowledge and information is relative and that claims of any sort most often only carry meaning in a particular cultural context that is relative to some set of cultural practices
• there is a seismic relativitity in the theory as communicating between different cultures of languages may be consumed different to how we intended due to differing cultural lenses
• standpoint theory recognises that all knowledge cliams are socially situated

Question 4

Explain knowledge produced from a narrow range of subject positions

Answer 4

• positions are often generalised or universialised (such as the perspective of ‘women’ when there are straight women, bi women, white women, black women, so many variations of who a woman is) and through this some (especially mariginalised) voices get discredited, silenced and marginalised
• part of being a person of privlige is being unconscious or unaware to one’s privlige and thus they cannot see the perspective of underpriviliged groups in society
• early sociologists created a taxonomy (scheme of classification) which was hierarchal where Europeans were placed at the top, this became a dominant truth, hegemony, part of evolution
• early sociologists, and even now consists mainly of androcentric (focused/centered on men), economically advantaged, racist, eurocentric and heterosexist conceptual framework that ignore the lives of the oppressed and didn’t recognise their role as the oppressors –> society has been conditioned to this hegemonic standpoint
• orthodox methods of research lead to partial knowledge which produces gaps in knowledge, errors in fact and epistemic errors (remember epistemology is the study of knowledge)
• Epistemology is study of knowlegde, axiology is studying of doing and ontology study of being

Question 5

Objectivity vs subjectivity

Answer 5

• whilst in theory sociologists should be able to stand apart from society to carry out research free from bias and be objective, this is a product of privlige, one cannot simply detacth themselves from soceity
• ‘the more value-neutral a conceptual framework appears, the more likely it is to advance the hegemonous interests of dominant groups’
• objectivity is white male subjectivity
• to generate a deeper, richer and more intimate research, the experiences and views of the undrpriviliged must be included
• if you are living in and part of the oppression your standpoint is likely to be more impassionate, genuine and insightful, it is likely to be subjective and emotional
• there is an emphasis on political engagement rather than detatchment as a basis of knowledge
• Political engagement was necessary to create women’s collective group consciousness that would enable women to engage in research so in turn they could transform their consciousness into an oppositional one and begin to see the possibility of ending their oppression

Question 6

Power imbalances and their affect on standpoint

Answer 6

• histories tend to get unified where a dominant form is given the status of objectvie history, of fact, of truth
• standpoints that challenge structrues of unified theories are likely to be seen as alternative, emotional or subjective and thus untrue fabrications
• this standpoint theory sees knowledge production as reflective of existing power relations, the idea that is is always socially situated and never divorced form the world
• standpoint theories force us to question who this theory is working for (is it the privliged, white upper class) and who its working against (is this the underprivliged, women, people of colour)
• knowledge is a political project
• a person’s identity in relation to power has a strong influence on the way they perceive society

Question 7

Explain how standpoint theory is used to give voice to marginalised groups 6

Answer 7

• intersectionality has a large role to play in the way it changes how people navigate power dynamics and in turn relates to their view of society
• standpoint theory is an organic epistemology, methodology, philosophy of science and social theory which can be used and arise wherever oppressed groups of society gain public voice
• it can produce oppositional and shared consciousness in oppressed groups
• links to the criticism about bias paradox in whether its removing bias or simply inversing who is given the opporunitity to have their standpoint heard and their biases
• androcentric etc. standpoints ‘ensured systematic ignorance and error about not only the lives of the oppressed, but also the lives of their oppressors’, they had blind spots to social barriers, they couldn’t see them because they didn’t experience them
• Argues that marginalised and oppressed groups see reality more accurately than privileged people, its easier to see social barriers when you experience them and harder when you don’t

Question 8

Key authors

Answer 8

• Sandra Harding: introduction to standpoint theory as a site of political, philosphic and scientific debate

Question 9

Critical theory

Answer 9

• the idea that subjectivity of knowledge producer is relevant and the reader also is actively engaged in critique while reading/listening