A First Look At Communication Theory, 10e (Griffin)
Chapter 32 Standpoint Theory
1) Julia Wood maintains that gender is:
A) an essential category.
B) a cultural construction.
C) a metanarrative about which we should be skeptical.
D) None of the answers is correct.
2) Standpoint theorists see important differences between men and women. Unlike the masculine
community, the feminine community uses speech to:
A) develop strategies.
B) gain power.
C) show responsiveness.
D) assert self.
3) Wood suggests that the standpoints of women and other marginalized groups should be less
partial, less distorted, or less false than the perspectives of men who are in dominant positions
because these groups:
A) have little reason to defend the status quo.
B) view truth as value-free and accessible to any objective observer.
C) dismiss any relationship between the knower and the known.
D) are unfamiliar with the perspectives of those who are in power.
4) According to Sandra Harding, the strategy of starting research from the lives of women and
other marginalized groups, which upon critical reflection and resistance provides them with a
less false view of reality, is referred to as ________.
A) passive strategy
B) extractive strategy
C) categorical imperative
D) strong objectivity
5) In her book Black Feminist Thought, Patricia Hill Collins says that black women collectively
validate what they know. She states that:
A) “lived experience as a criterion of meaning.”
B) “the use of monologues in assessing knowledge claims.”
C) “the ethic of apathy.”
D) “the ethic of corporate accountability.”
6) As an unapologetic feminist committed to the equal value of all human life, Wood
understands that:
A) men cannot be feminists.
B) a sense of solidarity among women is politically useful if women are to effectively critique a
male-centered world.
C) we need to discover the “essence of women” that motivates their communication.
D) All of the answers are correct.
7) In the context of ethical reflection, identify a true statement about Seyla Benhabib’s interactive
universalism.
A) Benhabib insists that any panhuman ethic be achieved through imposition by a rational elite
rather than through interaction with collective concrete others.
B) Benhabib appreciates the postmodern insistence that a moral point of view is an
accomplishment rather than a discovery.
C) Benhabib suggests that individuals should reach a consensus on how everyone “should act.”
D) Benhabib is “content with singing the swan-song of normative thinking in general.”
8) All aspects of a person’s identity are intertwined, mutually constituting each other. This
statement best describes the concept of ________.
A) reciprocity
B) relative simplicity
C) intersectionality
D) reflexivity
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9) Some critics dismiss the concept of strong objectivity:
A) as contradictory.
B) for not being clearly defined.
C) as unrealistic.
D) for being too firmly rooted in postmodern theory.
10) Standpoint theorists believe that people in dominant positions in society have more
motivation to understand the perspective of those who are marginalized than vice versa.
11) Standpoint theorists believe that people’s view of the world depends on their social location,
which is shaped by their demographic characteristics, including sex, race, ethnicity, sexual
orientation, and economic status.
12) Standpoint theorists maintain that the perspectives of privileged groups are more complete
and thus, better than those of subordinate groups in a society.
13) Benhabib believes that a new breed of universal ethic is possible.
14) Wood’s in-depth study of caregiving in the United States demonstrated that women are
naturally suited for caregiving because of their maternal instincts.
15) Sandra Harding’s insistence on local knowledge is based upon the claim of traditional
Western science that it can discover “Truth” that is value-free and accessible to any objective
observer.
16) German philosopher Georg Hegel analyzed the master-slave relationship to show that what
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people “know” about themselves depends on which group they are in.
17) Standpoint theorists emphasize the importance of social location because they are convinced
that people at the top of the societal hierarchy are the ones privileged to define what it means to
be female, male, or anything else in a given culture.
18) A perspective achieved through critical reflection on power relations and their consequences
that opposes the status quo is known as a(n) ________.
19) ________ knowledge is defined as knowledge that is situated in time, place, experience, and
relative power.
20) What are the social groups to which you belong that shape your standpoint? Are some more
influential than the others? How do they affect your view of the world? How is it possible for
you to answer these questions objectively?
21) Harding and Wood claim that the perspectives of those who are marginalized is more
“objective,” more “complete,” and “better” than members of dominant groups. Discuss what they
mean by each of these terms and the challenges that are posed by critics. Who do you find more
persuasive?
22) How has postmodern theory influenced standpoint theorists? Where do postmodernists and
standpoint theorists part company? Why?
23) Discuss how the powerful in society are likely to define concerns or experiences of
marginalized groups when compared to the marginalized group members’ perception of the same
issue. Provide an example.
24) Wood offers two explanations to explain why the standpoints of women and other
marginalized groups should be less partial, distorted, or less false than the perspectives of men
who are in dominant positions. Outline and discuss the explanations.
25) Define “strong objectivity” and give an example of communication research based on this
strategy. How might the critique of strong objectivity influence communication research?
26) Discuss Wood’s efforts to maintain group solidarity. Why is it important? Is it possible, as
Wood suggests, to value differences while emphasizing overarching feminist concerns? What
might be lost when group solidarity is stressed in this way?
27) How might Harding and Wood respond to Tannen’s views of gender and communication?
28) How might standpoint theorists critique the various theories in the Media and Culture and the
Media Effects sections?
29) Compare standpoint theory with the approach of performance ethnography (Chapter 33).
30) Compare Patricia Hill Collin’s four ways in which black women collectively validate what
they know with Walter Fisher’s two criteria of coherence and fidelity.
31) How might Harding and Wood critique the work of theorists such as Berger or Hirokawa and
Gouran? How might they respond?
32) How might standpoint theory sharpen rhetorical analysis, particularly the kind suggested by
Aristotle? How do concepts from rhetorical theory help expand and modify standpoint theory?
33) How are the ideas proposed by Deetz and Harding and Wood compatible? Clearly, they
share a critical edge, but how do the concepts that are put forth become similar?