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Feminism, the Relational Micro-Politics of Power and Research Management in Higher Education in Britain

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Power, Knowledge and the Academy

Abstract

One of the distinctive contributions of feminist scholarship to the social sciences has been to open up the black box of theoretical and empirical knowledge construction processes. By placing reflexivity at the centre of their research practices, feminists have discussed a range of aspects of power relations in the knowledge production process. For example, in addition to looking at what counts as knowledge generally (Collins 1990; Harding 1991; Rose 1994), they have considered how the construction of knowledge is influenced by power relations during fieldwork, particularly inequalities in terms of power and privilege between researchers and respondents (Edwards 1990; Finch 1984; Ribbens 1989; Ribbens and Edwards 1998; Wolf 1996); power relations during data analysis and interpretive stages (Glucksmann 1994; Mauthner and Doucet 1998, 2003); and power issues in writing about and representing the ‘Other’ (Standing 1998; Wilkinson and Kitzinger 1996; Wolf 1996).

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Authors
  1. Natasha Mauthner
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  2. Rosalind Edwards
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. London South Bank University, UK

    Val Gillies

  2. Open University, UK

    Helen Lucey

Copyright information

© 2007 Natasha Mauthner and Rosalind Edwards

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Cite this chapter

Mauthner, N., Edwards, R. (2007). Feminism, the Relational Micro-Politics of Power and Research Management in Higher Education in Britain. In: Gillies, V., Lucey, H. (eds) Power, Knowledge and the Academy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230287013_10

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