History, Critical Theory, and Women's Social Practices: "Women's Time" and Housekeeping

Feminism, Postmodernism, and Psychological Research

“…However, an engagement with postmodernism can help us avoid the tendency to take a polarized position, for there is no place outside of power from which we might judge the "correct" side of the empiricist/standpoint binary. In much the same way that Kristeva's dialectic avoids final unity (Foster 1988), there can be no final solution or resolution to the feminist empiricist/standpoint debate (Kimball 1995). But that is precisely why postmodernism is useful to feminism: postmodernism encourages us to "think the unthought and ask questions previously unasked'' (Lamer 1999, 51) within empiricist and standpoint traditions.…”

Feminism, Postmodernism, and Psychological Research

“…However, an engagement with postmodernism can help us avoid the tendency to take a polarized position, for there is no place outside of power from which we might judge the “correct” side of the empiricist/standpoint binary. In much the same way that Kristeva's dialectic avoids final unity (Foster 1988), there can be no final solution or resolution to the feminist empiricist/standpoint debate (Kimball 1995). But that is precisely why postmodernism is useful to feminism: postmodernism encourages us to “think the unthought and ask questions previously unasked” (Larner 1999, 51) within empiricist and standpoint traditions .…”

“…In addition, Kristeva re‐introduces a notion of agency and desire within the maternal. The implications for feminist research are far‐reaching: not only must psychologists address how motherhood is represented and symbolized, but they should also treat mothering as a “social practice with transformative cultural force when it comes into conflict with the dominant culture” (Foster 1988, 77).…”