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The Resource The conceptual practices of power : a feminist sociology of knowledge, Dorothy E. Smith

The conceptual practices of power : a feminist sociology of knowledge, Dorothy E. Smith

Creator
Summary
Beginning with women's experience, the author examines the field's actual practices of reasoning and conceptualization. She argues that standard sociological methods of inquiry make use of ideological practices, transforming the actualities of people's lives into a formalized picture lacking subjects and subjectivity. The method of Smith recommends anchors a Marxist materialism, based in people's activities, to a woman's stand-point based in experience. She uses this method in a radically original way to explore ideology and objectified knowledge as the conceptual practices of ruling. Smith is equally concerned with the application of sociological ideology to the human service bureacracy and the way institutions of mental health reconstruct women's lives. She provides meticulous accounts of the ways in which police reports, government statistics, hospital records, and pschiatric files are ideologically interpreted, transforming a person's life history in the process. In a revelatory chapter on the biographer Quentin Bell's account of Virginia Woolf's suicide, the author demonstrates how the text implicates the reader in the objectification of Woolf's "psychiatric problems." Highly critical of current sociological practices, The Conceptual Practices of Power both recommends and exemplifies the alternative approach that Smith presented in her earlier work, That Everyday World as Problematic, also published by Northeastern University Press
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
x, 235 pages
Isbn
9781555530808
Instance
Label
The conceptual practices of power : a feminist sociology of knowledge
Title
The conceptual practices of power
Title remainder
a feminist sociology of knowledge
Statement of responsibility
Dorothy E. Smith
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
Beginning with women's experience, the author examines the field's actual practices of reasoning and conceptualization. She argues that standard sociological methods of inquiry make use of ideological practices, transforming the actualities of people's lives into a formalized picture lacking subjects and subjectivity. The method of Smith recommends anchors a Marxist materialism, based in people's activities, to a woman's stand-point based in experience. She uses this method in a radically original way to explore ideology and objectified knowledge as the conceptual practices of ruling. Smith is equally concerned with the application of sociological ideology to the human service bureacracy and the way institutions of mental health reconstruct women's lives. She provides meticulous accounts of the ways in which police reports, government statistics, hospital records, and pschiatric files are ideologically interpreted, transforming a person's life history in the process. In a revelatory chapter on the biographer Quentin Bell's account of Virginia Woolf's suicide, the author demonstrates how the text implicates the reader in the objectification of Woolf's "psychiatric problems." Highly critical of current sociological practices, The Conceptual Practices of Power both recommends and exemplifies the alternative approach that Smith presented in her earlier work, That Everyday World as Problematic, also published by Northeastern University Press
Member of
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1926-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Smith, Dorothy E.
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
  • HQ1190
  • BD175
LC item number
  • .S54 1990
  • .S616 1990
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
Series statement
The Northeastern series feminist theory
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Feminist theory
  • Knowledge, Sociology of
  • Ideology
  • Discourse analysis
  • Power (Social sciences)
  • Discourse analysis
  • Feminist theory
  • Ideology
  • Knowledge, Sociology of
  • Power (Social sciences)
  • Sociaal-wetenschappelijk onderzoek
  • Ideologie
  • Machtsverhoudingen
  • Feminismus
  • Wissenssoziologie
Label
The conceptual practices of power : a feminist sociology of knowledge, Dorothy E. Smith
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
24 cm.
Extent
x, 235 pages
Isbn
9781555530808
Isbn Type
(pbk.: alk. paper)
Lccn
89077833
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other control number
002166236
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • (OCoLC)20894775
  • (OCoLC)ocm20894775
Label
The conceptual practices of power : a feminist sociology of knowledge, Dorothy E. Smith
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
24 cm.
Extent
x, 235 pages
Isbn
9781555530808
Isbn Type
(pbk.: alk. paper)
Lccn
89077833
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other control number
002166236
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • (OCoLC)20894775
  • (OCoLC)ocm20894775

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