1. Response to Martyn Hammersley's Paper 'on Feminist Methodology'
- Author
-
Loraine Gelsthorpe
- Subjects
Emancipation ,Sociology and Political Science ,05 social sciences ,Gender studies ,0506 political science ,Epistemology ,Race (biology) ,050903 gender studies ,restrict ,050602 political science & public administration ,Criticism ,Sociology ,0509 other social sciences ,Privilege (social inequality) - Abstract
Martyn Hammersley's observations and comments 'On Feminist Methodology' very usefully draw attention to the continuing critical debates between feminists on methodological and epistemological issues. Since Caroline Ramazanoglu has focussed on issues which generally fall under his fourth heading of 'the adoption of the emancipation of women as the goal of research and the criterion of validity' I shall restrict my response to the first three of Hammersley's headings. Under his first heading Hammersley questions whether or not it is justifiable to privilege the significance of gender. What strikes me here is the assumption that gender is indeed privileged by feminists in a uniform way. The case for criticism is considerably weakened when Hammersley himself cites leading feminist writers who have not only questioned the privileging of gender over other factors such as race and class, but who presumably do not privilege gender in their work.
- Published
- 1992