standpoint theory

Griffin discusses Sandra Harding and Julia Wood's standpoint theory in Chapter 34. These researchers are especially interested in standpoint based on gender. They argue that gender is a cultural construction.

Standpoint is the place from which you view the world. You can think of standpoint as a position, perspective, viewpoint, or outlook. According to standpoint theorists, race, class, gender, and sexual orientation produce different standpoints based on social inequity. Harding and Wood suggest that those who are less powerful can provide a more objective view than those who are more powerful. Thus, standpoint theorists believe that the lives of women and others who are marginalized should provide the grounding for communication research. However, these scholars reject postmodernists' absolute relativism or the notion that one perspective cannot be evaluated as more useful than another. Because she is committed to critiquing an androcentric world, Wood believes that a sense of solidarity among women is politically necessary.

Other scholars prior to Harding and Wood have discussed the idea of standpoint. For example, Marx and Engels' proletarian standpoint referred to the impoverished poor. Standpoint theorists argue that knowledge is situated and partial, but also maintain that those in less privileged groups have more complete knowledge than those higher in the social hierarchy. Therefore, starting research from the standpoint of marginalized groups results in strong objectivity. In contrast, starting research from the standpoint of dominant groups results in weak objectivity. Some critics assert that the concept of strong objectivity is inherently contradictory.

In the section on interactive universalism, Griffin discusses Seyla Benhabib's argument that a universalist ethic is possible if it is contextually sensitive. At the end of the chapter, Griffin observes that feminist scholars are concerned that standpoint theory underestimates the role of language in expressing an individual's standpoint.

~ Professor Cyborg