Biography
Smith was born on 6 July 1926, inFamilial Influences
Dorothy Smith came from a long line of feminist activists. Each of these familial figures had an impact on Smith’s sociological theories and ideas. Most notably were Margaret Fox, Lucy Ellison Abraham, and Dorothy Foster Place. Margaret Fox née Fell was the feminist leader of the 17th century Quaker movement. Often referred to as the “mother of Quakerism” she opened her home to be used as one of the first headquarters for the Quaker religious Society of Friends. Lucy Ellison Abraham and Dorothy Foster Place were Dorothy Smith’s grandmother and mother respectively. Both were members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and engaged in militant suffrage activism. Abraham participated mostly in the organizational and office work, while Place was more active, even getting arrested once during a window breaking campaign. Smith’s own identity as a Marxist-feminist developed during the 1970s, when her life history and the on going women’s movement merged to contribute to her life and sociological practices. The Vancouver Women’s Movement from 1968-1977 proved to be a key moment in the development of Smith’s identity. The combination of Smith’s feminist ancestry and her own experiences in women’s movements went on to shape her standpoint theory. Through watching and learning about her familial history and how each of the three women previously mentioned addressed feminism and the inequality of women through their roles as women Smith transformed these actions into a theory. Smith’s standpoint theory argues that the origin of standpoint came from women’s experiences as housewives. Each of her three ancestors were housewives and that added to and shaped their approach to feminism and activism.Standpoint theory
Before Smith, American feminist theorist Sandra Harding created the concept of standpoint theory in order to emphasize the knowledge of women, arguing that hierarchies naturally created ignorance about social reality and critical questions among those whom the hierarchies favored. However, those at the bottom of these ladders had a perspective that made it easier to explain social problems. Standpoint theory is rooted in the idea that what one knows is impacted by their position in society. It also contains three main beliefs: no one can have complete and objective knowledge, no two people can have exactly the same standpoint, and we must not take for granted our own standpoint. Smith emphasized the importance of recognizing our standpoint and utilizing it as the entry point to our investigation. Smith’s overall goal with standpoint theory was to fully account for the perspectives of different genders and their effects on our reality. It was during her time as a graduate student in the 1960s that Smith developed her notion of standpoint, shaping Harding's theory. During this time, Smith recognized that she herself was experiencing "two subjectivities, home and university", and that these two worlds could not be blended. In recognition of her own standpoint, Smith shed light on the fact that sociology was lacking in the acknowledgment of standpoint. At this point, the methods and theories of sociology had been formed upon and built in a male-dominated social world, unintentionally ignoring the women's world of sexual reproduction, children, and household affairs. Women's duties are seen as natural parts of society, rather than as an addition to culture. Smith believed that asking questions from a female's perspective could provide insight into social institutions. Smith determined that for minority groups, the constant separation between the world as they experience it versus continually having to adapt to the view of the dominant group creates oppression, which can lead to members of the marginalized group feeling alienated from their "true" selves.Connection to Marxism
The idea that not all standpoints are viewed equally shows how Smith’s take on standpoint theory also draws direct connections with Marxism. This inequality in standpoints and how they are perceived in society reflects Marxist ideas of the impact of social, economic, and political relations on shaping and determining oppression.Example
Smith often used one particular story as an example of the importance of standpoint theory, and as a way of explaining it: One day, while riding in a train in Ontario, Smith observed a family of Indians standing together by a river, watching the train pass by. It was only after having made these initial assumptions that Smith realized that they were just that; they were assumptions, assumptions that she had no way of knowing if they were true or not. She called them "Indians", but she couldn't have known, for sure, what their origins were. She called them a family, which could have very well not been true. She also said they were watching the train go by, an assumption that emerged solely based on her position in time and space, her position riding in the train, looking out at the "family".Smith, D. E. (1990). ''The conceptual practices of power: A feminist sociology of knowledge''. Boston: Northeastern University Press. For Smith, this served as a representation of her own privilege, through which she made assumptions and immediately imposed them on the group of "Indians". It helped lead her to the conclusion that experiences differ, across space, time, and circumstance. It is unfair to create society—and ruling relations—based on only one point of view/being.Institutional ethnography
Institutional ethnography (IE) is a sociological method of inquiry which Smith developed, created to explore the social relations that structure people's everyday lives. For the institutional ethnographer, ordinary daily activity becomes the site for an investigation of social organization. Smith developed IE asLecture Video Link
Below is a recorded lecture that Smith gave introducing her work and thoughts on institutional ethnography https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOO9fLT9r-Q This lecture was hosted at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health on November 5, 2018.Ruling relations
Smith also developed the concept of ''ruling relations'', the institutional complexes that "coordinate the everyday work of administration and the lives of those subject to administrative regimes". This allows a society to have control and organization, with examples being systems of bureaucracy and management. It also defines how they will interact with one another. Smith argues that ruling relations dehumanize people. She focuses on how it can limit women to only being seen in their traditional roles of mother, wife, homemaker, or housekeeper.Bifurcation of consciousness
Bifurcation is defined as dividing or separating into two parts or branches. In the case of the bifurcation of consciousness, specifically related to standpoint theory, this refers to the separation of the two modes of being for women. Since sociology is a male-dominated field, women must fight to push past their expected roles as housewives and mothers, moving from the local realm of the home to the "extra local" realm of society. Women, therefore, split their consciousness in two in order to establish themselves as knowledgeable and competent beings within society and the field of sociology.Influences
Smith had influential ties to theorists such asUmwelt and mitwelt
Alfred Schütz describesProfessional recognition
In recognition of her contributions in the "transformation of sociology", and for extending the boundaries of "feminist standpoint theory" to "include race, class, and gender", Smith received numerous awards from the American Sociological Association, including the American Sociological Association's Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award (1999) and the Jessie Bernard Award for Feminist Sociology (1993). In recognition of her scholarship, she also received two awards from the Canadian Sociological Association and the Canadian Anthropological Association; the Outstanding Contribution Award (1990) and the''The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology'' (1987)
Smith wrote chapters two and three of ''The Everyday World as a Problematic: A Feminist Sociology'' between 1977 and 1981. Her concept of the ''line of fault'' is the notion of recognizing the male biases as a society and being conscious from a woman's perspective and noticing the inequality between male and female. In Toronto, while teaching at Ontario Institute of Studies, Smith published her paper about everyday lives as a woman, and the sociology behind the everyday housewife and mother.Selected works
* ''Simply Institutional Ethnography: Creating a Sociology for People (''2022, ISBN 978-1487528065) * ''Institutional Ethnography: A Sociology for People'' (2005, ) * ''Mothering for Schooling'', co-author with Alison Griffith (2004, ) * ''Writing the Social: Critique, Theory, and Investigations'' (1999, ) * ''The Conceptual Practices of Power: A Feminist Sociology of Knowledge'' (1990, ) * ''Texts, Facts, and Femininity: Exploring the Relations of Ruling'' (1990, ) * ''The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology'' (1987, ) * ''Feminism and Marxism: A Place to Begin, A Way to Go'' (1977, ) * ''Women Look at Psychiatry: I'm Not Mad, I'm Angry''—Collection edited by Smith and David (1975, ), Press Gang Publishing * ''Sociological Theory Vol.10 No.1: Sociology from Women's Experience: A Reaffirmation'' (1992) * ''What It Might Mean to Do a Canadian Sociology: The Everyday World as Problematic'' (1975)References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Dorothy E. 1926 births 2022 deaths Alumni of the London School of Economics British emigrants to Canada British ethnographers British expatriate academics in Canada British sociologists British women anthropologists Canadian academics of women's studies Canadian ethnographers Canadian feminists Canadian socialist feminists Canadian sociologists Canadian women anthropologists Canadian women sociologists Feminist studies scholars Marxist feminists Members of the Order of Canada People from Northallerton Scientists from Vancouver University of British Columbia faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Toronto faculty University of Victoria faculty Writers from Vancouver Writers from Yorkshire