Feminist research methods : exemplary readings in the social sciences 9780429035302, 0429035306

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Feminist Research Methods

About the Book and Editor Feminist inquiry has affected the nature of research in all the social and natural sciences over the past decade., but ,nuch contemporary writing on fc,ninist methods sin1ply offers a critique of tradit ional n1ethods. This book, one of the first to offer a practical guide to conducting research informed by feminist methods, is based on the premise that abstract discussion of methodological issues is most meaningful and instructive in conjunction with exa1nples of actual research. A comprehensive and fa r-reaching introduction defines feminist research and explains how it differs from traditional methodology in the social and natural sciences. In a beautifully clear style, Dr. Nielsen guides the reader through a number of philosophy of science, history of science, and sociology of knowledge issues that are fundan1t:ntal to understanding the nature of scientific method in its traditional sense and the role of feminist scholarship in the larger intellectual movement that is transforming and redefining scient ific methodology. Pan One presents the best of fen1inist commentary on both feminist and traditional methods. Part Two consists of readings that illustrate particular fe,ninist n1ethods, including oral history, linguistic analysis, feminist anthropology inforn1ed by fe n1inist literary criticism, and reinterpretation and reanalysis of en1pirical data from a feminist perspective. Substantive issues addressed in the readings include won1en's suffrage in the United States, women as shamans, sex differences in suicide rates, sex differences in cognitive abilities, gender dominance through conversation, gender and public policy, and public-private sphere dichotomies. Joyce McCarl Nielsen is associate professor of sociology at the University of Colorado- Boulder. She is the author of Sex and Gender in Society: Perspectives on Stratificat ion.

Feminist Research Methods Exen1plary Readi11gs in tl1e Social Sciences ED ITED BY

Joyce McCarl Nielsen University of Colorado- Boulder

WESTVIEW PRESS Boulder, San· Francisco, & London

c .4 Feminist research methods exemplary readi ngs in the social sciences

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The d i.1gr:11n on p:1ge 22 is reprinted from George Ritzer, Sociology: A Mulripk l'.iradigm S6cncc (Bos1011: All v11 and Baron, 1975) . p. 3. Used br pcnnissio n of Simon & Schu ster, Inc. The editorials ;rnJ :utirks o n pages 123, 124, 124- 126, and 130 arc reprilllcd from the New fork Times. Copyrig ht © 1912 by 1he New York Times Company; reprinred by pe rmission. Al l rights rescr,·c,I. No parr o f t his p ublic.uion mar br re produced or transmitted in any form or by .11,y 111c111s, cler1ronir or merh.111 ic:1l, including pho1ocopy, recording, or 3 11)' information ·Storage and n:trin·al system. without permission in writing from the publisher. Copyrighr © I990 by West view Press, Inc. Published in 1990 in 1hc United Srates of Amcric,1 by Westview Press, lnr., 5500 Cent ral Avenue, Boul,kr, Color,1do 80301, a nd in the Unitrd Kingdom by Wcstview Press, Inc., 13 Brunswick Ccll!rc, London WC I N I AF, Engh111d Lihrnry of Congrrss Cataloging-in-1'11blica1io 11 Darn Femin ist rese.ud, methods : exemplary readings in the socia l sciences / cdi1nt br Joyce McCarl Nielsen. p.

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Coll!cllls: Grn,kr a nd sdrn,·e / Evelyn Fox Keller - Femi11is1 .-riti,·ism of 1hc soc ial sc icnccs / Marcia Westkott - Knowledge and women's interests / Jud ith A. Cook a11d Mary Marga re t Fonow Begi nni11g where we arc ti:minist methodology in ora l his1ory / K.11hryn Anderso11 . .. jer al.J - L1ur:1 Ellsworth Seiler : in thc srrecrs / Shern., Berger Gluc k - The visio11 of a woman Shama11 / Anna Lowcnlmrpr Tsi11g - Berwccn rwo worlds : German fcminis1 approaches co working ..c.:bss \vomcn and work / Myra Marx Ferree - \.\'omen and sui,idc in hisrori,·al perspcctke / Howard I. Kush ner - How large .ire cognir i\'c gc11de r di tkrcnces? / Jam·r Shible)' Hyde l111cra,·1ion : 111