Feminist Methodology: Challenges and Choices

Who would be a feminist now? Contemporary 'political realism' suggests that the essentials of the battle have already been won, and the current generation of women entering University is used to seeing feminism presented as 'old fashioned', 'extreme' and 'unrealistic'. Challenging such assumptions, this important new book argues for the value of empirical investigations of gendered life, and brings together the theoretical, political and practical aspects of feminist methodology. Feminist Methodology - demonstrates how feminist approaches to methodology engage with debates in western philosophy to raise critical questions about knowledge production - shows that feminist methodology has a distinctive place in social research - guides the reader through the terrain of feminist methodology and clarifies how feminists can claim knowledge of gendered social existence - connects abstract issues of theory with issues in fieldwork practice. This timely and accessible book will be an essential resource for students in women's studies, gender studies, sociology, cultural studies, social anthropology and feminist psychology.