SELECT AN EDITION:
9th EDITION   10th EDITION   11th EDITION
A First Look at Communication Theory Reveal main menu
 

The screen on this device is not wide enough to display Theory Resources. Try rotating the device to landscape orientation to see if more options become available.

Resources available to all users:

  • Text Comparison—theories covered in A First Look and ten other textbooks
  • Theory Overview—abstract of each chapter
  • Self-Help Quizzes—for student preparation
  • Chapter Outlines
  • Key Names—important names and terms in each chapter
  • Conversation Videos—interviews with theorists
  • Application Logs—student application of theories
  • Essay Questions—for student prepatation
  • Suggested Movie Clips—tie-in movie scenese to theories
  • Links—web resources related to each chapter
  • Primary Sources—for each theory with full chapter coverage
  • Further Resources—bibliographic and other suggestions
  • Changes—for each theory, since the previous edition
  • Theory Archive—PDF copies from the last edition in which a theory appeared

Resources available only to registered instructors who are logged in:

  • Discussion Suggestions
  • Exercises & Activities
  • PowerPoint® presentations you can use
  • Short Answer Quizzes—suggested questions and answers

Information for Instructors. Read more


CHANGE TO: View by Type

Resources
by Theory

 VIEW BY THEORY HOME
For the full list of resources
see View by Type

Instructors can get additional
resources. Read more





CONVERSATION VIDEOS








TEXT COMPARISON

Archived chapters (PDF)
from previous editions are
available in Resources by
Type. See list

New to Theory Resources?
Find out more in this
short video overview (3:01).


Standpoint Theory
Sandra Harding & Julia T Wood

CULTURAL CONTEXT: GENDER AND COMMUNICATION

Chapter 35
 Genderlect Styles
Muted Group Theory 
Chapter 35
 Genderlect Styles
Muted Group Theory 

Chapter Outline 9th Edition

  1. Introduction.
    1. A standpoint is a place from which to view the world that determines what we focus on as well as what is obscured from us.
    2. Sandra Harding and Julia Wood claim that the social groups to which we belong shape what we know and how we communicate.
    3. Standpoint theorists suggest that societal inequalities generate distinctive accounts of nature and social relationships.
    4. According to Harding, the perspective from the lives of the less powerful can provide a more objective view than the perspective from the lives of the more powerful.
    5. For Wood, a feminist standpoint is achievement rather than automatically inherited.
  2. A feminist standpoint rooted in philosophies.
    1. Georg Hegel revealed that what people “know” depends upon which group they are in and that the powerful control received knowledge.
    2. Early feminist standpoint theorists were influenced by Marx and Engels’ idea that the poor can be society’s “ideal knowers.”
    3. Standpoint theory is also influenced by symbolic interactionism, which suggests that gender is socially constructed, and by the postmodernism of theorists such as Jean-Francois Lyotard, which suggests a critique of male-centered epistemologies.
    4. However, standpoint theorists reject postmodernism’s absolute relativism.
    5. Although Harding and Wood draw from these somewhat conflicting influences, their theory is held together by the central tenet that all scholarly inquiry should start from the lives of women and others who are marginalized.
  3. Women as a marginalized group.
    1. Standpoint theorists see important differences between men and women that affect their communication.
      1. These differences are a result of cultural expectations and the treatment that each group receives from the other.
      2. Culture is not experienced identically by all members of society because of inequities.
      3. Women are underadvantaged; men are overadvantaged.
    2. Harding and Wood point out that women are not a monolithic group, and thus they do not all share the same standpoint.
      1. Economic condition, race, and sexual orientation also contribute to a woman’s position in society.
      2. Yet Wood feels that a sense of solidarity is politically necessary if women are to effectively challenge male domination and gain full participation in public life.
    3. People at the top of the societal hierarchy have the power to define others.
  4. Knowledge from nowhere versus local knowledge.
    1. Standpoint theorists believe that those who define a field shape the picture of the world that emerges from that field.
    2. This view contrasts sharply with the claim that “truth” is value-free and accessible to any objective observer.
    3. Harding believes that each person can achieve only a partial view of reality from the perspective of his or her own position in the social hierarchy.
    4. She does not want to abandon the search for reality; she simply believes that the search should begin from the lives of those in the underclass.
      1. Like all knowledge, the perspectives arising from the standpoint of women or any other minority are partial or situated knowledge.
      2. However, standpoint theorists believe that the perspectives of subordinate groups are more complete and thus better than those of privileged groups in a society.
  5. Strong objectivity: less partial views from the standpoint of women.
    1. Harding emphasizes that it’s the perspective generalized from women’s lives that provides a preferred standpoint from which to begin research.
      1. She calls this approach “strong objectivity.”
      2. By contrast, knowledge generated from the standpoint of dominant groups offers only “weak objectivity.”
    2. Wood offers two reasons why the standpoints of women and other marginalized groups are less partial, distorted, and false than those of men in dominant positions.
      1. Marginalized people have more motivation to understand the perspective of the powerful than vice versa.
      2. Marginalized people have little reason to defend the status quo.
    3. Harding and Wood emphasize that a woman’s location on the margin of society is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to attain a feminist standpoint.
    4. A feminist standpoint is an achievement rather than a piece of territory automatically inherited by virtue of being a woman.
  6. Theory to practice: communication research based on women’s lives.
    1. Wood’s study of caregiving in the United States exemplifies research that starts from the lives of women.
    2. Woods suggest that a standpoint approach is practical to the extent that it generates an effective critique of unjust practices.
  7. The standpoint of black feminist thought.
    1. Patricia Collins claims that “intersecting oppressions” puts black women in a different marginalized place in society than either white women or black men.
    2. The different social location means that black women’s way of knowing is different from Harding and Wood’s standpoint epistemology.
    3. Four ways that black women validate knowledge.
      1. Lived experience as a criterion of meaning.
      2. The use of dialogue in assessing knowledge claims.
      3. The ethic of caring.
      4. The ethic of personal accountability.
  8. Ethical reflection: Benhabib’s interactive universalism
    1. Seyla Benhabib maintains that a universal ethical standard is a viable possibility, one that values diversity of belief without thinking that every difference is ethically significant.
    2. She holds out the possibility that instead of reaching a consensus on how everyone should act, interacting individuals can align themselves with a common good.
    3. Benhabib insists that any panhuman ethic be achieved through interaction with collective concrete others rather than imposed on them by the rational elite.
    4. Interactive universalism would avoid privatizing women’s experience.
  9. Critique: Do standpoints on the margins give a less false view?
    1. Julia Wood says the concept of women as a single group is politically useful to bring about needed reform, but is this core idea a reality or just a fiction?
    2. Some feminist scholars contend that Harding’s version of standpoint theory underestimates the role of language, which is influenced by society and culture and which cannot be separated from standpoint.
    3. Other critics see the concept of strong objectivity as inherently contradictory, since it seems to appeal to universal standards of judgment.
    4. Wood acknowledges that it may be difficult to determine which social groups are more marginalized than others.

CHANGE TO: View by Type

Resources
by Theory

 THEORY HOME
For the full list of resources
see View by Type

Instructors can get additional
resources. Read more





VIDEOS








TEXT COMPARE

Archived chapters (PDF)
from previous editions
are available in
Resources by Type.
See list

New to Theory
Resources?
Find out more in this short
video overview (3:01).


Standpoint Theory
Sandra Harding & Julia T Wood

CULTURAL CONTEXT: GENDER AND COMMUNICATION

Chapter 35
 Genderlect Styles
Muted Group Theory 
Chapter 35
 Genderlect Styles
Muted Group Theory 

Chapter Outline 9th Edition

  1. Introduction.
    1. A standpoint is a place from which to view the world that determines what we focus on as well as what is obscured from us.
    2. Sandra Harding and Julia Wood claim that the social groups to which we belong shape what we know and how we communicate.
    3. Standpoint theorists suggest that societal inequalities generate distinctive accounts of nature and social relationships.
    4. According to Harding, the perspective from the lives of the less powerful can provide a more objective view than the perspective from the lives of the more powerful.
    5. For Wood, a feminist standpoint is achievement rather than automatically inherited.
  2. A feminist standpoint rooted in philosophies.
    1. Georg Hegel revealed that what people “know” depends upon which group they are in and that the powerful control received knowledge.
    2. Early feminist standpoint theorists were influenced by Marx and Engels’ idea that the poor can be society’s “ideal knowers.”
    3. Standpoint theory is also influenced by symbolic interactionism, which suggests that gender is socially constructed, and by the postmodernism of theorists such as Jean-Francois Lyotard, which suggests a critique of male-centered epistemologies.
    4. However, standpoint theorists reject postmodernism’s absolute relativism.
    5. Although Harding and Wood draw from these somewhat conflicting influences, their theory is held together by the central tenet that all scholarly inquiry should start from the lives of women and others who are marginalized.
  3. Women as a marginalized group.
    1. Standpoint theorists see important differences between men and women that affect their communication.
      1. These differences are a result of cultural expectations and the treatment that each group receives from the other.
      2. Culture is not experienced identically by all members of society because of inequities.
      3. Women are underadvantaged; men are overadvantaged.
    2. Harding and Wood point out that women are not a monolithic group, and thus they do not all share the same standpoint.
      1. Economic condition, race, and sexual orientation also contribute to a woman’s position in society.
      2. Yet Wood feels that a sense of solidarity is politically necessary if women are to effectively challenge male domination and gain full participation in public life.
    3. People at the top of the societal hierarchy have the power to define others.
  4. Knowledge from nowhere versus local knowledge.
    1. Standpoint theorists believe that those who define a field shape the picture of the world that emerges from that field.
    2. This view contrasts sharply with the claim that “truth” is value-free and accessible to any objective observer.
    3. Harding believes that each person can achieve only a partial view of reality from the perspective of his or her own position in the social hierarchy.
    4. She does not want to abandon the search for reality; she simply believes that the search should begin from the lives of those in the underclass.
      1. Like all knowledge, the perspectives arising from the standpoint of women or any other minority are partial or situated knowledge.
      2. However, standpoint theorists believe that the perspectives of subordinate groups are more complete and thus better than those of privileged groups in a society.
  5. Strong objectivity: less partial views from the standpoint of women.
    1. Harding emphasizes that it’s the perspective generalized from women’s lives that provides a preferred standpoint from which to begin research.
      1. She calls this approach “strong objectivity.”
      2. By contrast, knowledge generated from the standpoint of dominant groups offers only “weak objectivity.”
    2. Wood offers two reasons why the standpoints of women and other marginalized groups are less partial, distorted, and false than those of men in dominant positions.
      1. Marginalized people have more motivation to understand the perspective of the powerful than vice versa.
      2. Marginalized people have little reason to defend the status quo.
    3. Harding and Wood emphasize that a woman’s location on the margin of society is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to attain a feminist standpoint.
    4. A feminist standpoint is an achievement rather than a piece of territory automatically inherited by virtue of being a woman.
  6. Theory to practice: communication research based on women’s lives.
    1. Wood’s study of caregiving in the United States exemplifies research that starts from the lives of women.
    2. Woods suggest that a standpoint approach is practical to the extent that it generates an effective critique of unjust practices.
  7. The standpoint of black feminist thought.
    1. Patricia Collins claims that “intersecting oppressions” puts black women in a different marginalized place in society than either white women or black men.
    2. The different social location means that black women’s way of knowing is different from Harding and Wood’s standpoint epistemology.
    3. Four ways that black women validate knowledge.
      1. Lived experience as a criterion of meaning.
      2. The use of dialogue in assessing knowledge claims.
      3. The ethic of caring.
      4. The ethic of personal accountability.
  8. Ethical reflection: Benhabib’s interactive universalism
    1. Seyla Benhabib maintains that a universal ethical standard is a viable possibility, one that values diversity of belief without thinking that every difference is ethically significant.
    2. She holds out the possibility that instead of reaching a consensus on how everyone should act, interacting individuals can align themselves with a common good.
    3. Benhabib insists that any panhuman ethic be achieved through interaction with collective concrete others rather than imposed on them by the rational elite.
    4. Interactive universalism would avoid privatizing women’s experience.
  9. Critique: Do standpoints on the margins give a less false view?
    1. Julia Wood says the concept of women as a single group is politically useful to bring about needed reform, but is this core idea a reality or just a fiction?
    2. Some feminist scholars contend that Harding’s version of standpoint theory underestimates the role of language, which is influenced by society and culture and which cannot be separated from standpoint.
    3. Other critics see the concept of strong objectivity as inherently contradictory, since it seems to appeal to universal standards of judgment.
    4. Wood acknowledges that it may be difficult to determine which social groups are more marginalized than others.

 
 
 
Home  McGraw-Hill—How to get copies of A First Look  Information for Instructors  Meet the Authors
Compare Comm Theory Texts  Viewing Hints & Troubleshooting 
Contact Us  Instructor Login 
 
 

Copyright © Em Griffin 2025 | Web design by Graphic Impact