ABSTRACT

Prior to her development of her Interactive Phase Theory, McIntosh explored two questions for The Study of Women essay: 1) What is the basic content and methodology of a given discipline? And 2) What would need to change about the discipline in order to reflect the fact that women are half the world’s population? This essay posits that every discipline focuses the majority of its attention on the “achievers” at the top of various hierarchies of society and knowledge. McIntosh argues then that not only would the content and methodologies of every disciplines radically change, but that some of the boundaries between disciplines would also change if nine-tenths of the world’s population are taken seriously. The traditional curriculum was designed with a singular focus on white, Western, upper class men in a time of Western dominance and expansion. Reorienting disciplines would not only more accurately reflect the social reality and fabric, but would help to further reorient what society deems valuable.