Standpoint Theory

Definition: Standpoint theory operates under the assumption that one’s experience of the world is contingent on their material reality. Consequently, different material realities produce different ways of being and knowing. Emerging out of these distinct epistemologies is the idea, “the oppressed are seen as having an ‘epistemic advantage’ because they can operate within two sets of practices and in two different contexts,” which dominant groups lack the ability to do (Narayan, pp. 338-339). Source: Narayan, U. (1989). The Project of Feminist Epistemology: Perspectives from a Nonwestern Feminist. In C. R. McCann and S. Kim (Eds.), Feminist Theory Reader, Local and Global Perspectives (pp. 332-340). New York, NY: Routledge. 

Application: Standpoint theory is critical to community development work. When entering a community, it is important to defer to the community members and respect them as experts on their own community. Rather than coming into a community with a grand masterplan to fix it, community developers should seek out the beliefs, values, and ideas of the people who actually live in the community and are privy to community knowledge that outsiders are not. 

Adaptation: I think standpoint theory could also be adapted to various business disciplines. Without consulting the people they are hoping to sell products to, or selling products/starting a a new business in a neighborhood without any understanding of the community, businesses could make less of a profit than they could have making a product or starting a business in a community where they knew their products or business were both need and wanted by consumers.