Dorothy Smith’s woman standpoint theory is based on the premise that what every individual knows is to a certain extent affected by where one stands in society. “Where one stands refers to the socioeconomic status in the society such as financial status, religion, ethnicity, gender, social ranking and social standing. Smith’s woman standpoint theorizes that sociology should begin from a female standpoint and eventually they can ask why they have been assigned such activities and what consequences the designation is for institutions such as government, family, education and the economy. Betty Friedan’s feminine mystique proposed that women in the 1950s were only limited to wives and mother roles therefore limiting their full potential while Marianne Weber’s concept theorized that sociology should center on women experiences and marriage as the paragon for patriarchy. The paper will seek to compare Smith’s theory to Betty Friedman’s and Marianne Weber’s concepts.
Canadian sociologist, Dorothy Smith argues that sociology has objectified and ignored women. The experiences that women go through are appropriate grounds for feminist knowledge and social work should be grounded on women’s everyday experiences therefore enabling psychologist to inquire emerging questions. Smith indicates that since women have always been the caregivers in the community, men were able commit their energies to deliberating about theoretical concepts that are perceived as important (Smith 1993 p. 305). Women’s activities are therefore made invaluable and perceived as normal rather than part of history and human culture. Smith’s standpoint ultimately suggest that sociology should commence from a female standpoint then they can enquire key issues about why women have been designated to such activities and what the results are for institutions such as government, family, education and the economy (Smith 1993 p. 305). Sociologists should not be interested in contributing to a body of knowledge whose utilization is presented to relations of ruling where women are marginal participants. Rather, Smith proposes that sociologists focus on experiences as a method of comprehending a socially constructed world instead of standing outside it. The relationship between the observer and the subject and that of a sociologist to subject is a special social relationship. Smith demonstrates this point by referring to the ethnographic study by Jane Briggs of the methods in which Eskimo people live and express emotion. Briggs was only able to learn from the actual relationships she developed by living with an Eskimo family and interacting with members of the group. Her knowledge of the group is based on the context of the relationships and in the actual sites in which the work of family subsistence was performed.
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Smith critiques that sociology fails to perceive that there are two sides of a relationship. Alternative sociology must maintain the experiences, presence, and concerns of the sociologist as a comprehensive and curious individual. Ultimately, the Woman’s standpoint theory rejects objectification of social research and asks that social scientist begin asking about the nature of social structures and processes through the eyes of marginalized individuals. The thoughts of this theory are most effective and appropriate when conducting social research. One of Smith’s concepts is bifurcation of consciousness and is a branch from her feminist standpoint theory. The bifurcation of consciousness concept refers to the differentiation of two separate modes that exist in a woman; the world as an individual experiences it and the key view in which an individual adapts (Smith 1993 p. 307). Smith indicates that our knowledge of the world is mediated to us even before we participate in it. The knowledge is passed to us through the media as texts, images, journals and books. Marginalized individuals and in this case women are conditioned to perceive the world from a man’s view, since the latter’s perspectives are practiced and included in every facet of all institutions of the world. On the other hand, the dominant group remains ignorant to the views of the marginalized group as they rarely have to adapt to their worldview. The privileged view from the dominant group is the objective reality, a woman’s perspective gives the current realities that are often overlooked to those not seeing the world from the perspective of a woman.
Betty Friedan theorized the feminine mystique theory which enhanced the contemporary women’s movement in 1963. Friedan describes the life of a woman in the 1950s as centered on being a mother and housewife; a fact that restricted their full potential since they were limited to certain jobs that were appropriate for women. She indicated that the inequality of women was “the problem that has no name.” most of the columns , books and articles by professionals always told women that their role was to seek fulfillments in their roles as mother and wives. Women often heard the voices of tradition that their desires were only limited to the glory of femininity (Lemert 2016 p. 281). Experts focused on informing women on how to catch and keep a man, how to make a home and how to keep a marriage existing. Traditional women were conditioned to pity women who wanted to be physicists, poets or presidents. Feminine women were conditioned to resist the urges for a career, education, independence and political rights. Friedan’s theory is quite similar to Smith’s theory; Smith theorizes that women were conditioned to believe the privileged view from the dominant group who in Friedan’s case were men. The men in the 1950s through media conditioned women to believe that their desires and ambitions were only limited to the roles of wives and mothers (Lemert 2016 p. 281). Smith’s theory concurs with this notion since she suggested that the ideas are appropriated through media; an example of her idea that our knowledge of the world is mediated to us even before we participate in it. The younger girls born in the 1950s already had an idea of their roles even before they could participate in the world.
Marianne Weber was a feminist intellectual, social theorist, author and one of the women founders. Just like Smith, Weber takes on the experiences of women as the focal point for her sociological research and makes the subject through which social experience is perceived and assessed. Just like Smith, Weber avoids the objectification of women and instead centers her sociology on women in the research she partakes and the perception it assumes. Weber’s work is a reaction to her experiences in the male circles of social sciences which she knew well considering her husband was the renowned sociologist Max Weber. Weber was reacting to the assumption that statements made about a subject fit both genders and women are not significant to require separate evaluation (Lengerman et al. 2006 p. 203). Her theory was themed on grounding social work on women experiences just like Smith did. Weber focused on marriage as the focal point of patriarchy; on the other hand Smith believed that women were conditioned to perceive the world from a man’s view, since the latter’s perspectives are practiced and included in every facet of all institutions of the world. The men remain oblivious the women’s views since they do not have to adopt to their standpoint. The two theorists’ views are similar in that they both reject the objectification of social research and asks that social scientist begin asking about the nature of social structures and processes through the eyes of marginalized individuals (Women).
The three theorists Smith, Friedan and Weber offer similar perspectives on the roles of women in sociology. Smith’s Woman’s standpoint theory rejects objectification of social research and asks that social scientist begin asking about the nature of social structures and processes through the eyes of marginalized individuals. Her bifurcation of consciousness concept suggest that women are conditioned to perceive the world from a man’s view, since the latter’s perspectives are practiced and included in every facet of all institutions of the world. Her concept is similar to Friedan’s idea where traditionalists repeatedly informed women through media such as newspapers and magazines that their role was to seek fulfillment in being wives and mothers. The conventional roles of mothers and wives restricted women from reaching their full potential. Weber focused her work on women experiences just like Smith; her work was a reaction to the male dominated world which believed that women were not significant enough to warrant separate evaluations in sociology. Her work was viewed as a proactive feminist statement affirming women’s rights to sexual economic independences, moral autonomy and their contributions to society.
References
Lemert, Charles, ed. Social theory: The multicultural, global, and classic readings . Westview Press, 2016.
Lengermann, Patricia Madoo, and Gillian Niebrugge. The Women Founders: Sociology and Social Theory 1830–1930, A Text/Reader . Waveland Press, 2006.
Smith, Dorothy. "Knowing a society from within: A woman's standpoint." (1993).
