Dorothy Smith is similar to other theorists in this
unit. Up until the 1950s, sociologists were objective and worked with sociology
in a top-down way. Smith realized that this methodology of sociology was very
distant from the subject and projected a lot of cold emotions. She said this
methodology needed to change, otherwise with thin descriptions sociology would
be superficial. Dorothy Smith’s standpoint theory is all about her new
methodology for sociology. Like Geertz, she emphasized thick descriptions, a
sort of one on one with people and with cases. Dorothy Smith emphasized
experience over perspective, in order to get a detailed look into a case, one
needs to be in the group.
If top down and perspective was emphasized before, I
wonder how theorists even learned about their subjects in an emotional way.
Armchair anthropology came before participant observation in anthropology,
which is sort of like thin versus thick descriptions or the term ‘experience.’
In order to collect insight on a group, such as the homeless book sellers, a
sociologist should become a part of the group and share ‘experience’ with the
group, which is similar to anthropology because ethnographies occur from
participant observation nowadays. It seems like anthropology and sociology are
overlapping disciplines.
There’s a video on youtube that I watched, called
Dorothy Smith’s Standpoint (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ldZ-EPmM1k)
and the creator of the video, a female with a PhD, states that in her
undergraduate education her sociology professor neglected to talk about Dorothy
Smith because he didn’t perceive her way of doing sociology as a credible way
for research. Um what? Can someone punch that teacher? The creator was very
interested in Smith and she states that Smith’s standpoint was very interested
in the experiences of the subordinated and becoming a part of the group to see
the perspective of the subordinate subject. I really liked this video because
this PhD female, Debra Marshall, seems to praise Dorothy Smith.
I shall end with..two facts about Dorothy Smith…
she’s still alive… and she’s a Canadian!
Katie, nice blog. A couple of things caught my eye. First, I don't believe that the sociology professor you spoke about needs to literally be punched, even if he was underestimating the importance of the standpoint theory. The way I see it, the standpoint theory is a way to obtain thick descriptions, which are absolutely necessary in the field of social work, where human interaction is the main focus. But in a more research-based field of sociology that focuses more on the big picture, there simply isn't time or resources to obtain a thick description, generalizations must be made for the sake of time and efficiency. I think that this may have been the point that the sociology professor was trying to get across.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I never knew that Dorothy Smith was Canadian! I just gained a couple more respect points for her :)
I agree that standpoint theory is important for research and that professor should be punched (metaphorically). This theory is closely related to many of the concepts we have learned in class.
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