Standpoint Theory - Criticisms

Criticisms

Standpoint Theory evaluates the critical perspective in communication theories. This theory is formed by social reality and culture and primarily shaped by those with power and without power. This theory's purpose is to promote participation and empowerment of those who are opposed or marginalized. Although Standpoint Theory can be examined, the most critical of this theory is utility. Since standpoint theory focuses on the location of social groups, many scholars argue that this theory is related to the idea of essentialism, which means that all women are essentially the same. People tend to think that people in the same social groups have the same perspectives; however, this is a problem with the theory. Researchers have argued that standpoint theory does not apply to universal levels. Standpoint Theory focuses on locations of the social groups, and so people tend to think that all women are essentially the same. However, they do not realize that there are different cultures present even it is in the same social group. Therefore, many researchers have doubted the idea of essentialism. Just like any other theories, the standpoint theory also has its critiques. Standpoint Theory relies on essentialism and the complaint that it focuses on the dualisms of subjectivity and objectivity. Essentialism refers to the practice of generalizing about all women (or any group) as though they were essentially the same. Essentialism obscures the diversity that exists among women. Because standpoint theory focuses on the location of social groups, many researchers have argued that it is essentialist. West and Turner stated that an author by the name of Catherine O'Leary (1997) argued that although Standpoint Theory has been helpful in reclaiming women's experiences as suitable research topics, it contains a problematic emphasis on the universality of this experience, at the expense of differences among women's experiences. The other critique of Harding and Wood's standpoint theory that was mentioned is the dualism of strong objectivity and subjectivity. Joseph Rouse also reinforces how pedagogy is such an important concept to standpoint theory as it is important for individuals to know and understand the concept behind standpoint theory. It is not simply a theory of ideas that exist to create discussion but that it actually serves a purpose and that is to nullify the idea of pure objectivity. "The first lesson suggested by standpoint theories has not been sufficiently emphasized in the literature. Standpoint theories remind us why a naturalistic conception of knowing is so important. Knowledge claims and their justification are part of the world we seek to understand. They arise in specific circumstances and have real consequences. They are not merely representations in an idealized logical space, but events within a causal nexus. It matters politically as well as epistemically which concepts are intelligible, which claims are heard and understood by whom, which features of the world are perceptually salient, and which reasons are understood to be relevant and forceful, as well as which conclusions credible."

In postmodern fashion, standpoint theorists argue that standpoints are relative and cannot be evaluated by any absolute criteria, yet they propose that the oppressed are less biased or more impartial than the privileged. Feminists note that much of Western thought is organized around a set of oppositions, or dualisms. Reason and emotion, public and private, nature and culture, and subject and object are just a few of the pairs of opposites that are common organizing principles in Western thinking.

Feminists have been concerned with these dualisms for two related reasons. First, dualisms usually imply a hierarchical relationship between the terms, elevating one and devaluing the other. He also said that when we suggest that decisions should be made rationally, not emotionally, for example, we are showing that reason holds a higher value in our culture than does emotion. Also, related to this issue is the concern that these dualisms often become gendered in our culture. In this process, men are associated with one extreme and women with the other. In the case of reason and emotion, women are identified with emotion. Because our culture values emotion less than reason, women suffer from this association. 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.

• Postmodern critique – The basis of this critique is summed up by scholar, Seyla Benhabib. She sums it up by stating, "transcendental guarantees of truth are dead;... there is only the endless struggle of local narratives vying with one another for legitimization." What this says is that there cannot be one way that all people should act in certain circumstances, but rather studies and theories focused on the common good of the public majority. This critique also states that there is not any narrative in which we can base one universal version of truth in societies around the world. The moral ideals of the Enlightenment and Western liberal democracy are discredited by postmodernists.
• Communitarian critique – This critique focuses on how the theory looks at relationships and communication without knowing anything about the history of the people, relationships, or obligations within the communication premise. Real-life is messy and has several aspects behind every interaction. In order to avoid this generalization, Benhabib suggests that we should study ordinary people who live in communities instead of performing a study in an unfamiliar environment.
• Feminist critique – This critique’s basis is that Habermas disregards gender distinctions while forming this theory. The theory ignores the history of women and how they have been confined in society both politically and socially and therefore is not an adequate observation of the differences that may be present between men and women.