Karl Marx s The Feminist Standpoint Essay - 1929 Words

That Nancy Hartstock should follow Karl Marx’s lead in developing her â€Å"Feminist Standpoint† - the perspective of the oppressed in a ‘phallocratic’ regime in order to describe the oppressive dynamics of the ruling gender – did not surprise me. Standpoint was the analysis that enabled Marx to accurately view and describe the exchange of values that ultimately benefits the bourgeoisie with surplus value and capital, much to the detriment of their workers (who are subsequently left to survive on subsistence-wages). Given its historic standing, political credentials, and academic regard, Marxist understanding of capital and capitalism would be the logical blueprint upon which to build a more modern analysis of similar social relations. In that regard, â€Å"The Feminist Standpoint† successfully succeeds in what it intends to achieve – to construct a unique female viewpoint from which to map out the long reach of a repressive patriarchy . As many feminist researchers have long known and advocated for, the view from the bottom-up is the one that will yield the widest view of the dominant group’s top-down subjugation (Hesse-Biber 2006). Yet, in adhering so closely to Marx’s model of dichotomous dynamics – bourgeoisie vs. proletariat, owners of the modes of production vs. workers, capitalism vs. revolution - â€Å"The Feminist Standpoint† appears to leave itself little theoretical space to imagine any nuanced interventions of its binaries. Hartstock seems content – albeit withShow MoreRelatedDorothy E. Smith1454 Words   |  6 PagesDorothy Edith Smith â€Å"Feminist Standpoint Theory and Institutional Ethnography† 1926- Dorothy E. Smith was born in North England in 1926. Dorothy E. Smith has lived a long life and commonly refers to it as â€Å"a long time ago and another world†. According to Smith, she has grown from the young woman to now due to several experiences. Smith has been employed in many different capacities such as a secretary and a clerk. In her Mid-twenties, she worked at a book publishing company. Smith attemptedRead MoreKarl Marx And The Rise Of Capitalism1911 Words   |  8 PagesKarl Marx was the first in a series of 19th and 20th century theorists who started the call for an empirical approach to social science. Theorizing about the rise of modernity accompanied by the decline in traditional societies and advocating for a change in the means of production in order to enable social justice. 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