Standpoint Theory

Standpoint theory is a feminist theoretical perspective that argues that knowledge always stems from social position and that to get the best vantage point about the world, inquiries need to be based in the lives of women and other marginalized people. The perspective denies that traditional science is objective and suggests that research and theory has ignored and marginalized women and women's ways of thinking. The theory emerged from feminist consciousness-raising and the Marxist argument that people from an [Page 805]oppressed class have special access to knowledge that is not available to those from a privileged class. In the 1970s, a few feminist writers inspired by this Marxist insight began to examine how inequalities between men and women influence knowledge production. Their work is related to epistemology, a branch of philosophy that examines the nature and origins of knowledge. A feminist epistemology stresses that knowledge is always socially situated. In societies stratified by gender and other categories, such as race and class, one's social positions shape what one can know.

Feminist theorist Sandra Harding coined the term standpoint to categorize some feminist epistemologies that emphasize women's ways of knowing, including the writings of Dorothy Smith and Nancy Hartsock. Building on this work, Harding argues that the lives of people at the top of social hierarchies delimit what they can understand about the world and themselves, so it is easy for these people to lose sight of real human relations and the true nature of social reality. For this reason, these privileged people—who have more access to the academy and other sites of knowledge production and policy making—miss critical questions about the social and natural world. In contrast, Harding argues, the lives of people at the bottom of social hierarchies give them a unique standpoint that is a better starting point for all scholarship. Although the lives of such people have been ignored or made invisible, their marginalized positions actually make it easier to define important research questions and explain social and natural problems.

Smith's work has shaped this perspective, particularly within sociology. In her book The Everyday World as Problematic, Smith argues that sociology has ignored and objectified women, making them the “Other.” She claims that women's experiences are fertile grounds for feminist knowledge. By grounding sociological work on women's everyday experiences, sociologists can ask new questions about women's and men's lives. For instance, Smith posits that because women are responsible for caring for the bodies of everyone in society, men (particularly powerful ones) are able to dedicate their energy to thinking about abstract concepts that are viewed as more valuable and important. Women's activities are made invisible and seen as “natural,” rather than as part of human culture and history. But if sociologists start from women's lives, they can ask concrete questions about why women are assigned to these activities, and what the consequences are for social institutions such as education, the family, government, and the economy.

Standpoint theorists also question objective empiricism—the idea that science can be objective through rigorous methodology. They argue that this ideal obscures the power that shapes science. For instance, Harding states that scientists have ignored their own androcentric and sexist research methods and results, despite their claims of neutrality. Therefore, recognizing the standpoint of knowledge-producers makes people more aware of the power inherent in positions of scientific authority. To standpoint theorists, all knowledge is produced from social standpoints; privileged positions are more likely to be obscured. Thus, as standpoint theorist Donna Haraway argues, when one starts from the perspective of women or other marginalized people, one is more likely to acknowledge the importance of standpoint and to create knowledge that is embodied, self-critical, and coherent.

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