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Gathering forces, raising flags, and applying theory to live differently – a very breif introduction to consciousness raising groups and standpoint theory.
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Pelynt, Cornwall
Continued from Consciousness Raising I
The Social Situation of Knowledge
Before women could change patriarchy, we had to change ourselves; we had to raise our consciousness1bell hooks, Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics, 7..
Socially neutral endeavours do not often produce socially neutral effects. While it is not always easy to see, leaning into data that presents an ‘average’ will always centre some while displacing others. Standpoint operates on the principle of providing a ‘public voice’ to the marginalised, women in particular. This process reflects on lived experience through a power-exchange lens: centres and margins, the dominant and underrepresented, self-determination and subjugation. Many critics of standpoint feminism and other left-leaning political-theoretical projects claim that this attention to inequity is self-defeating as its aspirations for equal footing do so by way of displacement of one perspective in favour of another. Standpoint theorists argue that their insights include a more robust research practice, as it involves the experiences of those who transit between multiple realms of power dynamics.
A standpoint is not a particular perspective – Standpoint is a procedure that activates “a different, somewhat hidden phenomenon that we must work to grasp2Harding, ‘Introduction: Standpoint Theory as a Site of Political, Philosophic, and Scientific Debate’, 8..” Its success is measured in its ability to make the links between politics and science via the expression of knowledge(s) that derive from the experiences of folx who encounter obstacles, barriers, and oversights in their day-to-day lives. In this way, it is not a relativist practice3Relativism, or at least the aspect CR groups and feminists resisted, is the stance that all knowledge claims or perspectives as equally valid regardless of origin or adequacy – the mirror image of empiricism and objectivity that assumes there is a perfect, totalizing truth of something. Both evade taking responsibility and neutralize the prospects of critical and embodied inquiry.. STs do not advocate that all knowledge is relative to your position or perspective. Therefore, multiple ‘truths’ are not only possible: they represent a fuller picture of reality. What ST can do is provide new angles of insight that inform social dynamics, structures, and politics because of the more complete picture presented. A frequently cited example of this in practice is the experience of entering buildings by folx in wheelchairs – one person may see a door, and another sees a door and a stack of stairs. Ultimately, a standpoint is a collection of perspectives that transform consciousness and offer an enhanced comprehension of reality.
Because devising a Standpoint raises issues with the fundamental nature of knowledge and, therefore, fundamental ‘truths’, STs can be felt implicitly or tangentially aggressive towards ‘the centre’ – any collective or practice that is identified as dominating. Harding and colleagues often reiterate that their projects aim to support women through increased knowledge about themselves – in particular, knowledge that informs how we come to know and be in the world. This knowledge is meant to increase agency to self-determination. In effect, this can be both critical and undermining to dominant institutions, ergo aggressive. While speaking about her experience working with students who would be future policy-makers and researchers, Harding noted that:
As a teacher it’s my obligation to advance the growth of knowledge but also to teach respect for diverse views … I wanted (the students) to be able to be comfortable with encouraging people to express views that were different than their own and which they might think are wrong … there is a lot to be learned with somebody who does not hold your views … I always try to pull out that background experience and respectfully teach students to be respectful to people they disagree with4Sandra Harding et al., Sandra Harding, Podcast, Standpoint Theory: Formation, Contestation, Legacies (University of British Colombia: Standpoint Theory Working Group, 2021), sect. 32:02, https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/standpointtheory/episodes/Sandra-Harding-e2l4m0n.
Applying Standpoint Theory is a means to name the outcomes when a group self-identifies through a self-taught process. Each person in a collective recognises the shared experiences with another. So, while there is no ‘women’s experience’, one can aspire to collect a consciousness shared among a specific group of women. In this way, you can have a ‘women’s standpoint’. The insights provided come from an individual; however, a standpoint itself is a shared expression of reality – and realities are constantly in flux. This presents a paradox – how can there be a women’s standpoint when multiple realities co-exist? Standpoint theories aim to “transform a source of oppression into a source of knowledge and potential liberation … as well as (a means) to our understanding of preconditions for the production of knowledge5Harding, ‘Introduction: Standpoint Theory as a Site of Political, Philosophic, and Scientific Debate’, 10..” It is a process, not a position or procedure6Process is a mutable and flexible journey which adapts to conditions. Procedures are specific, detailing exact steps, emphasizing the measures needed to complete a task..
By the 2024 interview, Harding also pointed out that Standpoint Theory is no longer something she aspires to but lives. She noted that some of the things she said in her earlier writings were working out how to do that. Harding demonstrates a model of consciousness raising that is not only ongoing as an intellectual endeavour, but one that settles into a tacit practice.
“Once you get it, you get it … I just don’t think about it as applying standpoint theory. I thought about it as thinking right, this is the right way to think. I think of it as living in a certain way7Harding et al., Sandra Harding, sect. 33:22..”
Returning to the case of the entrance, the door is no longer fully functional as a door as it does not provide its intended entrance – raising all sorts of ethical, empirical, and epistemological questions about doors in general. The existing reality of a door and an entrance co-exist while, at the same time, a fuller picture of accessibility, social implications, and building practices does as well. Whilst this example may seem esoteric, by overthinking an entrance, standpoint knowledge provides resources for multiple stakeholders that improve long-term interests and outcomes. From architects to funders to the users themselves, the standpoint of wheelchair users draw attention to the inefficiency of the entryway. This offers improved data to make decisions – and the better this knowledge is, the more valuable it is. ST does not intentionally subjugate knowledge itself. It only broadens it – even if it does challenge conventional knowledge and dominant understandings. While it is more frequently than not the case that all standpoints cannot be addressed in decision-making, knowing the data allows stakeholders to better prepare their own navigation of the realities that emerge from such decisions. Throwing out a Standpoint won’t change reality – it will only delay the inevitable effects of what will come8Eva Hoffman, After Such Knowledge: Memory, History, and the Legacy of the Holocaust (New York: Public Affairs, 2005)..
Citations
bell hooks. Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Pluto Press, 2000.
Harding, Sandra. ‘Introduction: Standpoint Theory as a Site of Political, Philosophic, and Scientific Debate’. In The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies, edited by Sandra Harding, 1–15. London: Routledge, 2004.
———. ‘Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What Is Strong Objectivity’. In Feminist Epistemologies, edited by Linda Alcoff and Elizabeth Potter, 49–82. London: Routledge, 1993.
Harding, Sandra, Alison Wylie, Karoline Paier, Emily Tilton, and Alex Bryant. Sandra Harding. Podcast. Standpoint Theory: Formation, Contestation, Legacies. University of British Colombia: Standpoint Theory Working Group, 2021. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/standpointtheory/episodes/Sandra-Harding-e2l4m0n.
Hoffman, Eva. After Such Knowledge: Memory, History, and the Legacy of the Holocaust. New York: Public Affairs, 2005.
Wells, Susan. ‘Our Bodies, Ourselves: Reading the Written Body’. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 33, no. 3 (2008): 697–723.
Citations
- 1bell hooks, Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics, 7.
- 2Harding, ‘Introduction: Standpoint Theory as a Site of Political, Philosophic, and Scientific Debate’, 8.
- 3Relativism, or at least the aspect CR groups and feminists resisted, is the stance that all knowledge claims or perspectives as equally valid regardless of origin or adequacy – the mirror image of empiricism and objectivity that assumes there is a perfect, totalizing truth of something. Both evade taking responsibility and neutralize the prospects of critical and embodied inquiry.
- 4Sandra Harding et al., Sandra Harding, Podcast, Standpoint Theory: Formation, Contestation, Legacies (University of British Colombia: Standpoint Theory Working Group, 2021), sect. 32:02, https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/standpointtheory/episodes/Sandra-Harding-e2l4m0n.
- 5Harding, ‘Introduction: Standpoint Theory as a Site of Political, Philosophic, and Scientific Debate’, 10.
- 6Process is a mutable and flexible journey which adapts to conditions. Procedures are specific, detailing exact steps, emphasizing the measures needed to complete a task.
- 7Harding et al., Sandra Harding, sect. 33:22.
- 8Eva Hoffman, After Such Knowledge: Memory, History, and the Legacy of the Holocaust (New York: Public Affairs, 2005).