Which social hierarchies are involved in shaping the consciousness of the individual or group you are considering? How do the positions of the individual or group in th

168 :: SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY IN THE CONTEMPORARY ERA

Figure 3.5 Collins’s Basic Concepts and Theoretical Orientation

Nonrational

Self-defined Cultural context
standpoint

Shared angles of
vision

Individual Collective

Interests Hierarchical
power relations

Institutions

Rational

Reading –

Introduction to Black Feminist Thought

In the following selection from Collins’s most highly acclaimed book, Black Feminist
Thought, Collins exposes and discusses the tension for black womei’t as agents of knowl­
edge, acknowledging that “Black culture and many of its traditions oppress women”
(Collins 1990/2000:230). However, she also warns against portraying black women
either “solely as passive, unfortunate recipients of racial and sexual abuses” or as “heroic
figures who easily engage in resisting oppression” (ibid.:238). In sum, Collins continually
emphasizes the complexity of systems of both domination and resistance.

Black Feminist Thought (1990)

Patricia Hill Collins

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES Rather than developing definitions and argu­
ing over naming practices-for example, whether OF BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHT
this thought should be called Black feminism,
womanism, Afrocentric feminism, Africana •Widely used yet increasingly difficult to define,
womanism, and the like-a more useful approach U.S. Black feminist thought encompasses diverse
lies in revisiting the reasons why Black feminist and often contradictory meanings ….

SOURCE: Excerpts from Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins. Copyright© 2000 by Taylor & Francis ..
Group LLC. Reproduced with permission ofTaylor & Francis Group, LLC via Copyright Clearance Center.

. thought exists i
features that ct
may provide
sorely needed
women, and b(
and all others
thought has a
thought’s disti
unique and ma;
knowledge. Rai
distinguishing
feminist thougl

Why U.S. Blac

Black femir
U.S. Black won
As a collectivit
in a dialecticc
American won
Dialectical rela
two parties are ,
Black women’s
oppressions of 1

nation persists,
response to that

In a similar
of U.S. Black J

oppression, botl
justify it. If inte1
Black feminist
knowledges wo
social theory, 1
empower Afric1
context of socia
ing oppressions
fully empowerei
themselves are e
supports broad
transcend U.S. I

Because son
been filtered thr
text, its contour
the specificity
(Takaki 1993). I
thought and prB
contradiction of
democratic pro
equality under
made to all Am,

µght exists at all. Exploring six distinguishing
#fies that characterize Blackfeminist thought

provide the common ground that is go
ly needed both among African’.”Ainerican

d 6n, and between African-American women
4/alJ•.··others :whose ·collet