Standpoint Theory Critical Analysis

1008 Words5 Pages
The Standpoint theory delves into how people have different perspectives and different realities, and the power of knowledge in shaping these perspectives. The movie Vantage Point, directed by Pete Travis, comes into mind in relation to this theory. Here, the same incident, viz. the President’s assassination, is presented from six different vantage points. Among these, the President has a very surprising view of the proceeding compared to others. Although this example takes the Theory very literally, it in fact aptly describes the framework of what the Theory is trying to project. In life, we see that different people have different views of the same thing. Take the example of a hydropower dam construction project. For the government, it might appear to be a necessity and they may feel they are compensating the affected people well by remuneration. However, the affected people know that they are being uprooted from their homeland. Although temporarily better off, they have lost the place they called home once. We can see this Theory being manifested in lot of circumstances, if only we observe and try to understand. Right from a student getting bad grades as a result of a submission they couldn’t complete due to being unwell, to the difficult situations faced by a single mother in this society. Although the Theory is primarily referred to in the feminist context, I believe its scope is immensely wider. Some of us, including me, often thing that we are empathetic and can understand what is going on with another person’s life. However, I am sure that try as we may, we won’t be able to understand completely what the sufferer truly has to endure. As social awareness is increasing thanks to mass media and increased sensitivity among my generation, we find people championing various causes, we find NGOs foraying into new domains. This is a good thing
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