First originating in feminist philosophy, this theory posits that marginalized groups, situated as "outsiders within," offer valuable insights that challenge dominant perspectives and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of societal dynamics.
[5] In Harding's 1986 book The Science Question in Feminism, she introduced the term "standpoint" to distinguish it from a generic perspective, emphasizing the requirement of political engagement.
It aimed to challenge conventional notions of objectivity and neutrality in scientific inquiry by foregrounding the political engagement and lived experiences of marginalized groups, particularly women.
Harding argues that the political engagement of feminists and their active focus on the lives of women allows them to have an epistemically privileged "standpoint".
[6] Feminist standpoint theory's initial focus was in challenging the idea of scientific neutrality and objectivity from a presupposed generalized knower.
This wave of standpoint theory underscored how gendered identities influence individuals' epistemic resources and capacities, impacting their access to knowledge.
[7] By centering the experiences of women, first-wave standpoint theorists sought to dismantle patriarchal structures in knowledge production and highlight the epistemic privilege inherent in marginalized perspectives.
[12] Prominent standpoint theorists such as Dorothy Smith, Nancy Hartsock, Donna Haraway, Sandra Harding, Alison Wylie, Lynette Hunter and Patricia Hill Collins expanded the theoretical framework, emphasizing the importance of intersectionality.
Second-wave standpoint theorists and activists in the United States developed the related concept of intersectionality[13] to examine oppressions caused by the interactions between social factors such as gender, race, sexuality, and culture.
[15] Though intersectionality was developed to consider social and philosophical issues, it has been applied in a range of academic areas[16] like higher education,[17] identity politics,[18] and geography.
In the era of third-wave feminism, characterized by inclusivity and activism, standpoint theory emphasizes the importance of community and collective action.
Examples include the first female and person of color Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, the global pandemic[21] and the overturning of Roe v.
According to Michael Ryan, "the idea of a collective standpoint does not imply an essential overarching characteristic but rather a sense of belonging to a group bounded by a shared experience.
To avoid falling into limitations of the status quo and certain standpoints, he said that "the view from below has greater potential to generate more complete and more objective knowledge claims."
Through the outsider-within phenomenon, these individuals are placed in a unique position to point to patterns of behavior that those immersed in the dominant group culture are unable to recognize.
[39] Specifically, feminist standpoint theory is guided by four main theses: strong objectivity, the situated knowledge, epistemic advantage, and power relations.
Feminist critics are usually concerned with the fact that dualisms force false dichotomies (partition of a whole) onto women and men, failing to see that life is less either/or than both/and, as relational dialectics theory holds.
The utility of this approach stems from diverse background of marginalized groups across societies and cultures whose unique experiences have been rejected and suppressed within a majoritarian intellectual knowledge production.
[43] An Indigenous "knower" does not possess a predisposed "readymade critical stance" on the world, but rather questions that must be answered before objective knowledge is obtained.
Nakata states that these three principles allow him to forge a critical standpoint from the cultural interface and enable him to create better arguments in relation to his position within epistemologies and with other groups of "knowers".
Thus, Indigenous standpoint theory can be defined as a "method of inquiry, a process for making more intelligible 'the corpus of objectified knowledge about us' as it emerges and organizes understanding of ... lived realities".
[clarification needed] While standpoint theory began with a critical Marxist view of social-class oppression, it developed in the 1970s and 1980s along with changes in feminist philosophy.
"Early standpoint theorists sought to understand the way in which the gendered identity of knowers affected their epistemic resources and capacities".
Responding to the claim that the situated knowledge thesis reifies essentialism, Wylie argues that it is "an open (empirical) question whether such structures obtain in a given context, what form they take, and how they are internalized or embodied by individuals".