Truman Crapo

4-28-2018
Final Paper

Standpoint Theory

Overview

I will be discussing the Standpoint Theory. “The basic premise of standpoint theory is

straightforward: The social, material, and symbolic circumstances of a social group shape how

members perceive, interpret, and act toward events, situations, others, and themselves.” This

explanation goes right along with what I will talk about within the Theory and Concept section

of this paper. I will go over some of the major and minor principles or things that this theory

brings to the table. After, I will explain experiences in my life where that theory has been tested

and see what the outcome yields. The inspection of these examples will take place in the

Analysis section. I will talk based the the outcomes on what principles we discussed in the

Theory and Concept section. To wrap up my paper, I will turn this inward and see how the

standpoint theory affects me and how the standpoint theory can help me in the future if any

conflict or discussion should arise.

Theory/Concept

The standpoint theory pinpoints individuals and social groups and how they perceive

human interactions and communication. Every person or group has certain ideas about certain

topics, holds some values high and forgets about others, defines a position in society and says be

yourself. The perception is endless. It is said that the standpoint theory started with German

philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. In the beginning he talked about the differences of

the slaves and the masters and how they viewed the social life. This caught on and is so

interesting to me because each person's background, life stories, values, etc. are so different.

Looking outward is we might get a sense of false identification of others values. Along the lines
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4-28-2018
Final Paper

of what Korgen provides in his article about stereotyping people or groups of people. We might

understand something that could be the opposite.

This emphasizes a thought of the importance of social location. Social location is talked

about by Wood in his discourse on Theoretical Insights into Personal Relationships. The location

in the standpoint theory is specifically concerned with circumstances common to most members

of social groups. For example, in the Hindu culture “caste is what is used to assign people to

groups, and in the United States, sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and class are used to

designate social placement.” This one quote states, “Further, groups are not defined as just

different but as differently valuable.” In my thoughts, there are so much that each group is able

to offer each other. If there are other values not yet introduced to a group it could be a huge

difference as different groups collaborate with each other. In one example that is given in one

discourse talks about how we see our families. One African American student was going to miss

a week of school to be with his ill aunt but his White instructors would not excuse the absences

because they thought an aunt is not an immediate family member. So something important that

shapes this theory is how we place things that are valuable to us. Some might call this racism but

because of the difference in social location I want to move away from that idea. Racism comes in

various forms and many could think that the White instructors were racist. “Effective efforts to

fight racial discrimination can come only after we uncover and confront patterns of racial

discrimination.” A possible solve to a problem could be to discuss values of each others cultural

groups in order to know similarities and hold each other at more of a level playing field. The

standpoint theory can cause a lot of confusion for some but can resolve other things because it is

a means to understanding one another.

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4-28-2018
Final Paper

The last thing I wanted to cover is called speech community. This is a fairly simple

principle is the standpoint theory. “A speech community exists when members of a social group

understand and use communication in ways that are not shared by those outside the group. There

are many different groups that scholars identified have speech communities. This goes deep into

how and why females and males are socialized into sex-segregated group which “cultivate

distinct standpoints” on whether or not they agree.

“In sum, standpoint theory highlights how social locations and the roles, experiences, and

understandings entailed in them shape individuals' thoughts, feelings, and actions. Although not

denying individuality, standpoint theory insists that social groups are important contexts that

shape how individuals perceive others and relationships and how they communicate.” I know

that is a big quote but I thought that it was a great way to encapsulate the standpoint theory.

Analysis

While serving a LDS mission I was assigned to work directly with a community of

people from the Marshall Islands who were living in Texas and it was amazing to say the least.

What I wanted to talk about is where their values lie and how speech community was a big part,

more than the fact that I had to learn a whole other language. Marshallese people have a very

strict culture. Learning more about their community helped me understand their perspective

towards White Americans and others. We walked and bike a lot and because of this my socks get

holes in them. It is apart of the culture to take off your shoes before entering the home, so I did

that and one of the youth said, “I have never seen a white person with holes in their socks.” I

couldn’t believe it. To me this is an example of an outward display of social location. Noticing

this makes me get more interested in the Standpoint Theory and how we can do better at
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Final Paper

understanding each other.

Reflection

This theory has helped me understand more about people and communities. Each person

has a standpoint and can contribute to their community. It is important to know what your culture

values and what other cultures values to promote unity and understanding. “According to

Michael Ryan, "the idea of a collective standpoint does not imply an essential overarching

characteristic but rather a sense of belonging to a group bounded by a shared experience."” This

will help me understand in conflict scenarios that groups of people have something in common

and with commonalities their can be a means to solve the conflict.

References

Wood-Standpoint Theory - Class reading

Korgen (2014) What does a typical American look like today? - class reading

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standpoint_theory