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Andrew Larsen
Communication 1050
Professor Williams
May 7, 2014

The idea of Standpoint Theory and its Practical Applications
Standpoint theory appears to be ever changing and evolving into new and improved concepts that
better help define its surrounding issues. I have found several articles on the subject that apply
the theories to real life. Some of these practical applications include the idea of standpoint theory
in our modern day education system as well as among socioeconomic statuses. No matter your
position in the seemingly controversial mix, standpoint continues to be an important topic
overall.
Within the pages of our textbook I read that standpoint theory means an individual has
an achieved position based on a social location that lends an interpretative aspect to a persons
life (509). In other words, unprivileged social positions are likely to generate perspectives that
are less partial and less distorted than the perspectives generated by other social positions
(Rolin, 2009). Its interesting to me to think that someone who has less by societys standards
could actually have more than could be obtained by those of political, social or financial
standing.
Introducing standpoint to the education system, we can see a conflict between the social
realism: the belief that every individual is given the same opportunity if they are provided with
the same powerful knowledge, versus the standpoint of a given minority group. According to
the article Standpoint theory, realism and the search for objectivity in the sociology of education,
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a social realist believes standpoint not only old and outdated, but that it interferes with the equal
opportunity of learning from one group to another regardless of socioeconomic status or ethnic
background. They believe that standpoints intrusive nature causes an impediment of equal
development among students. Teaching one group that they cannot progress as well as another
without special help is both degrading and disheartening. A social realist has no desire to tell a
child that they essentially have a handicap or built-in disadvantage because of their ethnic
background, etc.
On the other hand, the author suggests that standpoint theory is not only misunderstood
by these social realists who cling to a stereotype of this post-Empirical revolution idea: or the
notion of depending on ones personal sensory experience instead of using the scientific method
or logical means of obtaining information. She states that if we are concerned with restoring
objectivity, in a manner that avoids both relativism [or the idea of having no absolutes with in a
single perspective] and cultural elitism in school curricula, a turn away from standpoint theory in
the sociology of education is not warranted and may be obstructive (Gail, 2014). Using
standpoint theory, educators can add varying degrees of perspective and tailor that knowledge to
the specific needs of a given student. Basically, not everyone is the same and this effects how
individuals learn and develop and become prosperous members of society. Perhaps a good
example of this is a person who has a handicap. The main stream education system may not
appropriately accommodate this childs needs, verses a system that is perhaps to offer an
alternative in learning. Likewise, on a larger scale, perhaps there are different methods of
teaching that might be better suited for different demographics.
Transitioning into feminist standpoint, we have the opportunity to acknowledge that
mainstream historical research and perspective have previously evolved from the white, middle
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class males psyche. Other standpoints such as that of women among others, have been rejected,
turned away or put down. Feminist standpoint theory is the best known for the controversial
claim that those who are unprivileged with respect to their social positions are likely to be
privileged with respect to gaining knowledge of social reality (Rolin, 2009). Though there are
those who have been fighting these stereotypical concepts in order to introduce or include a
wider range of ideas, the mainstream can still exclusive in organ at times. Today, standpoint
feminists have begun to endorse virtues of theory choice that have been traditionally empiricist
(Intemann, 2010). Empiricist, again, meaning knowledge obtained and based on sensory
experience and perception as opposed to solely using scientific reason and deduction. Simply
put, this movement of thought is beginning to embrace the idea of introducing a less absolute as
singular mentality to understand the world around us.
As a side note, these sources have been gathered from articles, which are peer reviewed
by those of a specialty or expertise in the given field, and as such are among the most credible of
information available. Though I found books I wanted to add to my research, they were not
specifically written to accommodate my needs as far as this paper is concerned. In addition, there
wasnt a synopsis on my topic listed on these books about standpoint theory. I would have had to
purchase the material in order to continue using them as references. I also, did not find any
newspaper articles or magazine articles, however, I think any credible material would have cited
an article in the first place making my information choice among anything I might have found in
other media. Lastly, I used a variety of articles, many of which are not listed because they had
the same general concepts. I picked feminist standpoint and standpoint in education because they
are seemingly contradictory as far as the empirical aspect is concerned, which I was hoping
would provide a mild contrast in my paper.
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Over all, I have learned that not every standpoint theorist has the same perception, which
really defines and helps solidify the idea of standpoint in and of itself. At the end of the day there
are many different ways to look at one thing and its difficult to classify into a singular notion. If
standpoint theory is correct, than those individuals listed outside of the dominant groups would
have more to say and more knowledge to share than those living in the fish bowl who are only
able to see the narrow view that is shown to them by those who have the power to control what is
right and what is wrong.
















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Works Cited
Gail. Standpoint theory, realism and the search for objectivity in the sociology of education.
2014.
Intemann. 25 Years of Feminist Empiricism and Standpoint Theory: Where Are We Now?. 2010.
Rolin. Standpoint Theory as a Methodology for the Study of Power Relations. 2009
West, Richard, and Lynn H. Turner. Introducing Communication Theory Analysis And
Application. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.