Point of view theory

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A standpoint theory asserts a dependence of the acquisition of knowledge on the position within social domination relationships . It says that there are better and worse points of view from which the world can be viewed and interpreted. The perspective of a dominated group tends to be more suitable for an objective perception than the perspective from the standpoint of a ruling group.

The term standpoint theory was first coined in the academic discussion in postmodernism . The term was particularly common as feminist point of view theory , but was also expanded to include other approaches. Proponents of various feminist and Marxist theories use the term themselves, while all other assignments are made after the fact; the expression does not appear in the systems themselves.

The standpoint theory is often part of “ identity politics ”.

Theses of the point of view theory

  • One point of view influences the attitude people take towards the socially constructed world.
  • All points of view create biases or prejudices .
  • Belonging to a social group largely determines the point of view the individual takes.
  • The inequalities between the different social groups favor different points of view.
  • All viewpoints are biased , but some viewpoints may be more objective than others.
  • The position of a subordinate group is more complete because it has more reason to understand a dominant group and because they have less interest in the status quo be maintained.

Hegel's point of view theory

Concepts of standpoint theory usually start with Hegel's Reign and Servitude chapter in the Phenomenology of Spirit of 1807. According to Hegel, the servant has an epistemological advantage over the master.

With the thesis of consciousness which is the antithesis linked another consciousness. Both face each other in a paradigmatic struggle for life and death. One of the two will find that they value life highly and will break off the fight. From now on it is the servant and must serve the Lord . The servant will now both acknowledge the Lord as a different consciousness and recognize himself in the product of his work for the Lord:

“In the Lord, being for himself is something else for him or only for him; in fear there is being-for-itself in oneself; In forming, being-for-itself becomes its own for it, and there is an awareness that it is itself in and for itself . "

The servant's consciousness thus becomes self-consciousness in a dialectical process in the synthesis . However, it only becomes true self-confidence when it overcomes its fear of death.

Marxist point of view theories linked to Marx

Karl Marx related Hegel's philosophy to the production process in capitalism , in which master and servant - capitalists and proletarians - face each other as classes in an organized social relationship . From the perspective of the proletarian, the course of the production process is in principle available, since his effort creates the relationship between self and object . From the point of view of the ruling class, however, the actual practices and the material conditions required for them are not visible. From the standpoint of the proletariat its class consciousness and the class struggle connected with it result when it changes from the class in itself to the class in itself .

A radical class point took the Proletkult movement ( 1917 - 1925 ) a. Its main theorist, Alexander Bogdanov , in his book Science and the Working Class, called for the creation of its own proletarian universities and the development of its own proletarian science from the workers' point of view.

In History and Class Consciousness Georg Lukács described the historical process as that in which the truth of the practice of a class develops.

Even Ernst Bloch represents a standpoint theory by a mutual -object relationship subject goes: You can not stand knowing outside of knowledge, gain a position of the object which is not itself again only a mere standpoint of the knowing subject-object Relationship would be.

In English usage there is the term workerism for the approach which starts from the point of view of the workers . This point of view was also taken in Italian operaism .

Howard Zinn has rewritten the history of the American people , radically from the perspective of a story from below , the point of view of the powerless.

According to Pierre Bourdieu , the power relations of a society, which can be seen, among other things, in the area of ​​lifestyles , are based on the disposal of classes over types of capital . Bourdieu's point of view theory is one of the criticism of what he calls scholasticism , the apparently unprecedented and consequential production of knowledge, but which is actually based on the incorporated, i.e. H. internalized educational capital of the family environment. The scholastic situation is a place and a time of social weightlessness . It is important that the subjects of the objectification objectify themselves and thus use the scope of consciousness and action possible for an actor or a class .

Feminist point of view theory

The feminist point of view theories criticize androcentric worldviews that focus on men or that masculinity is understood as a yardstick and norm . In addition, they take the position that because of the patriarchal rule, women have more objective access to certain areas of the world. Well-known feminist point-of-view theorists are Nancy Hartsock , Sandra Harding, and Dorothy Smith .

Sandra Harding distinguishes the weak objectivity which only the scientists demanded and from the scientist an objectivity of the strict objectivity that researchers miteinbezögen aware of the scientific work that distinguishing itself by the position of their own social group membership. Research should begin with the dominated groups. Harding demands that members of dominant groups have a treacherous awareness , which should end their own arrogance and ignorance of dominated groups. However, it must be taken into account that people belong to different communities at the same time and therefore often belong to dominated and dominant groups at the same time.

Donna Haraway shares with the feminist standpoint theory the criticism of the apparent objectivity of ( patriarchal ) science, which does not consider the social situation of knowledge . In this context she speaks of the god trick , since the scientist pretends to take a position outside of the research object, as if his point of view was lofty and god-like.

Within the more recent women's and gender studies, the classic feminist point of view theory has meanwhile been abandoned in favor of an intersectional approach. The more recent feminist point of view theory expands the analysis from the perspective or the point of view of women to include the perspectives of other marginalized groups. This development is based on the knowledge that when analyzing inequality and power relations, other social structural categories such as class, sexual orientation and ethnicity are important in addition to gender. Accordingly, there is not just one feminist standpoint (that of women in general), but several standpoints, such as the perspective of black, lesbian or poor women. For example, Patricia Hill Collins developed a standpoint of black women in contrast to the approach of the classical feminist standpoint theory, in order to illuminate not only sexist, but also racist, colonialist and Eurocentric power relations.

See also

literature

  • Alexander Bogdanow: Science and the working class. Frankfurt a. M. 1971
  • Pierre Bourdieu: Meditations. On the Critique of Scholastic Reason. Frankfurt a. M. 2001
  • Donna J. Haraway: Monstrous Promises: Coyote Stories About Feminism and Technoscience. Hamburg 1995
  • Sandra Harding: Feminist philosophy of science. On the relationship between science and gender. Hamburg 1989
  • Sandra Harding: The Gender of Knowledge. Women are rethinking science. Frankfurt a. M. 1994
  • Sandra Harding: The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader. Intellectual and Political Controversies. Routledge, 2003, ISBN 0415945003 .
  • GWF Hegel: Phenomenology of the Spirit . Frankfurt a. M. 1986
  • Elisabeth List / Herlinde Studer (eds.): Thoughts. Feminism and Criticism. Frankfurt a. M. 1989
  • Georg Lukács: History and Class Consciousness. Studies on Marxist Dialectics. (1923), Neuwied and Berlin 1970
  • Dorothy E. Smith: A Sociology for Women. Hamburg 1999

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hegel: independence and lack of independence of self-consciousness; Domination and bondage. In: Phenomenology of Mind. 1807, p. 154.
  2. ↑ Bogdanow, Alexander: Science and the working class , Frankfurt a. M. 1971
  3. ↑ Ruth Becker, Beate Kortendiek (ed.): Handbook women and gender research: theory, methods, empiricism. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010 (3rd edition), ISBN 978-3-531-17170-8 , p. 297 .