Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Feminism, sociology of scientific knowledge and postmodernism
T2 - politics, theory and me
AU - Singleton, V
PY - 1996/5
Y1 - 1996/5
N2 - Is postmodernism debilitating for feminists approaching science? is the actor-network approach, which rejects dualisms and universalism, politically impotent Or is such a critique epistemologically conservative? I explore these questions by drawing on empirical research examining the UK Cervical Screening Programme (CSP). Specifically, I attempt to answer the question of whether or not women should participate in the CSP and undertake a cervical smear test Because the CSP is constantly changing as participants' identities multiply in negotiation, I propose that there is no stable paint from which a single decision about lay participation can be made, however politically useful it may be to do so, I demonstrate my discomfort with talking about whether women should or should not participate. Given the dynamic nature of the Programme, a 'should' discourse is inappropriate, and can also be guilt-inducing and oppressive to women. My preference is for a discourse which emphasizes that women could participate.
AB - Is postmodernism debilitating for feminists approaching science? is the actor-network approach, which rejects dualisms and universalism, politically impotent Or is such a critique epistemologically conservative? I explore these questions by drawing on empirical research examining the UK Cervical Screening Programme (CSP). Specifically, I attempt to answer the question of whether or not women should participate in the CSP and undertake a cervical smear test Because the CSP is constantly changing as participants' identities multiply in negotiation, I propose that there is no stable paint from which a single decision about lay participation can be made, however politically useful it may be to do so, I demonstrate my discomfort with talking about whether women should or should not participate. Given the dynamic nature of the Programme, a 'should' discourse is inappropriate, and can also be guilt-inducing and oppressive to women. My preference is for a discourse which emphasizes that women could participate.
KW - SCREENING-PROGRAM
U2 - 10.1177/030631296026002010
DO - 10.1177/030631296026002010
M3 - Journal article
VL - 26
SP - 445
EP - 468
JO - Social Studies of Science
JF - Social Studies of Science
SN - 0306-3127
IS - 2
ER -