p ss lecture 6

Effective from September 2015 | P_SS USIC Social Science for Postgraduate - week 7

SOCIAL SCIENCE FOR POSTGRADUATE STUDY

LECTURE SEVEN: FEMINIST RESEARCH


Contents1. Defining Feminist Research2. History of Feminist Research3. Feminist Epistemology and Ontology4. Three Approaches to Feminist Research5. From Feminist Epistemology to Feminist Methodology6. Feminist Research: Reflexivity7. Conclusion8. Homework

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Defining Feminist Research 3

Feminism is a political movement concerned with the inequalities between men and women, and works to achieve liberation for women from these inequalities.

Feminist research involves challenging the structures and ideologies that oppress women

‘Feminist researchers start with the political commitment to produce useful knowledge that will make a difference to women’s lives through social and individual change’ (Letherby, 2003)

Feminist research challenges silences and assumptions in mainstream (‘malestream’) research



History of Feminist Research4

Feminists started to think critically about mainstream social research in the 1960s and 1970s

Feminist research originated within feminism, as feminist academics recognised that their lived experiences were not represented within research (for example, the sociology of work and industry, and the sociology of deviance, focused on male behaviour)

Feminist research drew attention to women’s experiences

• For example, Anne Oakley (1974) looked at housework from women’s perspectives and challenged male assumptions about work.



Feminist Ontology & Epistemology5

Ontology: a feminist ontology recognises that women are oppressed in society, and this is understood as a ‘patriarchal society’• although feminists also recognise that there are differences

between women’s experiences of this oppression

Epistemology: feminist epistemologies are concerned with the status and privilege accorded to different knowledge claims

Feminists argue that men have used their position of power to shape social research

Feminists critique the production of knowledge, and the systems and institutions where this takes place



Three Approaches to Feminist Research

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Three approaches to feminism and epistemology:

• Feminist empiricism

• Feminist standpoint theory

• Feminist postmodernism

These are not mutually exclusive, as many feminists have sympathies with aspects of each approach



Feminist Empiricism7

Feminist empiricism is:

• the position of feminists working within scientific research

• who agree with the positivist norms of science

• but criticise the ways in which scientific methods have been used.

This approach is based on modernist, Enlightenment ontology which advocate a single and universal social world where the truth exists independently of the knower (objectivism, realism).


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Feminist Empiricism

Feminist empiricism is an epistemology which is trying to better understand this world by challenging:• the uncritical focus on men• research that takes the centrality of a male experience

for granted

Replicating mainstream research with women ‘added in’.

Criticism:

• By not challenging a positivist understanding, this approach replicates the gendered assumptions of mainstream social science research




Feminist Standpoint Theory9

Argues for a ‘successor science’ in which experience should be the starting point of knowledge production.

Unlike feminist empiricists, feminist standpoint theorists challenge positivist ideas.

Example:• Positivist split between researcher and researched, in

which the researcher is privileged as knowing more than the researched about thenature of social reality

• Feminist standpoint theory argue for emphasizing the specific experience and situated perspectives of all humans, including both researchers and researched


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Feminist Standpoint Theory

Criticism:

• Not always sensitive to issues of difference beyond gender (although now recognizing intersections between gender and other variables)




‘Strong Objectivity’11

Two stages of research:

• Context of discovery (development of research questions)

• Context of justification (testing research questions)

Feminist standpoint theorists criticize positivists for only applying objectivity to the context of justification (objectively explaining how they study their topic but not why they chose that particular topic)


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‘Strong Objectivity’Lack of objectivity:

• Failure to take women’s lives and experiences into account when developing research, placing men at the centre of one’s world view (androcentric assumptions)

• Sandra Harding – aim for ‘strong objectivity’ or ‘more truthful’ accounts by including women’s perspectives




From Epistemology to Methodology13

Doing feminist research involves addressing the question of how research should be done – feminist methodologies build on feminist ontologies and epistemologies:

• ontology: recognizing women’s oppression within a patriarchal society

• epistemology: starting from women’s perspectives to get a more complete understanding

• Potential feminist methodologies: choosing a topic that is relevant to a particular group of women, focusing on women’s interpretations or trying to explain a social trend

No particular feminist methods



Feminist Research: Reflexivity14

Feminist research involves being a ‘reflexive’ researcher:

• taking a critical look inwards and reflecting on one’s own lived reality and experiences in order to better understand the research process.

Feminist researchers locate themselves within the research process to draw attention to the ways in which their assumptions and social background may have shaped the way research is carried out.


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Feminist Research: Reflexivity

Example:

• Feminist interviewer Marjorie DeVault (1990) highlights the importance of listening to the language participants use to express their reality. Sometimes words and concepts don’t exist to express women’s experiences.

Reflexivity means being mindful of your agenda, and open to hearing things that might challenge the recognized way of making sense of a situation.




Conclusion 16

Feminist research involves challenging the structures and ideologies that oppress women, including those that shape knowledge production

• involves criticizing the focus on men in social research, and drawing attention to women’s experiences

Two main approaches:• Feminist empiricism: positivist scientific approach with

women ‘added in’• Feminist standpoint theory: starting from women’s

perspectives when designing research in order to achieve ‘strong objectivity’

Connection between feminist ontology, epistemologies and methodologies, and a focus on being reflexive researchers


Homework

Review lecture and prepare questions for seminar one

Read Benton and Craib, Chapter 9 (pp.142-162)


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Further ReadingDelamont, S. (2003) Feminist Sociology, London: SageDeVault, M. (1990) ‘Talking and Listening from a Women’s Standpoint: Feminist Strategies for Interviewing and Analysis’, Social Problems, 37(1), pp. 96-116Harding, S. (ed.) (2004) The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies, New York; London: RoutledgeHesse-Biber, S. N. (ed.) (2012) The Handbook of Feminist Research: Theory and Practice, 2nd edn., Thousand Oaks, CA; London: Sage (Part 1)Hesse-Biber, S. N. and Leavy, P. L (eds.) (2007) Feminist Research Practice: A Primer, Thousand Oaks, CA; London: Sage (Part 1)Hesse-Biber, S. N. and Yaiser, M. L. (eds.) (2004) Feminist Perspectives on Social Research, Oxford; New York: Oxford University PressLetherby, G. (2003) Feminist Research in Theory and Practice, Buckingham; Philadelphia, PA: Open University PressOakley, A. (1974) The Sociology of Housework, London: M. RobertsonRamazanoglu, C. with Holland, J. (2002) Feminist Methodology: Challenges and Choices, London: Sage


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