ABSTRACT
Hartsock adapts Marxist epistemology to feminist purposes and defends a specifically feminist standpoint. A standpoint is a socioeconomic position from which social reality can be understood and from which emancipatory action can be undertaken. The material position of those who are most exploited by an economic system gives them experience of oppression that the dominant ideology denies and that more advantaged members of society do not see. Still, the wrongs inflicted by an economic system are not obvious to anyone. To perceive them, the victims must organize politically and engage with social reality both intellectually and through political practice. A standpoint is an achievement, not a gift.
