Feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

empiricism is a perspective within

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

research that combines the objectives and observations of feminism with the research methods and

empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...

. Feminist empiricism is typically connected to mainstream notions of

positivism Positivism is a philosophical school that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positivemeaning '' a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. Gerber, ''Soci ...

. Feminist empiricism critiques what it perceives to be inadequacies and biases within mainstream research methods, including positivism. Feminist empiricism is one of three main feminist

epistemological Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowled ...

perspectives. The other two are standpoint feminism and post-structural/postmodern feminism.

Example

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

rationalist feminism employs feminist empiricism to explain the political landscape. Rationalist feminism examines state, transnational and institutional actors, and specifically looks at causal relationships between these actors and gender issues.

Quantitative data Quantitative research is a research strategy that focuses on quantifying the collection and analysis of data. It is formed from a deductive approach where emphasis is placed on the testing of theory, shaped by empiricist and positivist philoso ...

is used to relate gender to these phenomena. This may be done by directly correlating gender data to specific state behaviors, or indirectly by examining a "gender gap" through indirect causal relationships. Popular perspectives linked to rationalist feminism within international relations include conventional constructivism and quantitative peace research.

Epistemological Perspectives

Standpoint feminism

Among other criticisms, standpoint feminism also known as anti-rational, argues that feminist empiricism cannot explain the way the political world works because the foundations on which it is built are based on the same gendered assumptions that all mainstream scientific inquiries face. Feminist empiricism argues that, because of its epistemological outlook, it can tackle this inherent gender bias within scientific inquiry.

Post-modern feminism

Post-structural/post-modern

epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

is entirely discursive, seeking to develop understanding through social analysis; to interpret rather than explain feminist theories in the political world. Feminist empiricism is more likely to favor

qualitative data Qualitative properties are properties that are observed and can generally not be measured with a numerical result, unlike Quantitative property, quantitative properties, which have numerical characteristics. Description Qualitative properties a ...

. Objective measurements are seen as important to eliminating the gender bias that exists. Post-structuralism is inherently opposed to the idea of an

objective truth The distinction between subjectivity and objectivity is a basic idea of philosophy, particularly epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowl ...

in the

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

. The belief is that those who study within the human sciences are ensnared by the same structures that affect the society in which they study.Buckler, S. (2010). Normative Theory. In D. Marsh, & G. Stoker (Eds.), ''Theory and Methods in Political Science'' (p. 170). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Post-structural feminism critiques the belief that any viewpoint is impartial; knowledge is not found but constructed. A specific result of this disagreement is the way in which the two theories view gender: feminist empiricism claims that gender variables are based on biological sex, while post-structural/post-modern feminism sees gender as a socially constituted entity.

References

{{Feminist theory Feminist movements and ideologies Feminist theory Feminism and society Feminism and social class Feminism and history

Example

Epistemological Perspectives

Standpoint feminism

Post-modern feminism

See also

References