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Assignment 08

Patricia Hill Collins voices her opinion on the fact that “outsiders” contribute to the study of sociology and how we understand society and culture in her essay, “Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought”. Right in the beginning of the reading, the author begins to talk about how a minority significantly affects the lives of the majority, the example she uses is of African American women. Those women who work domestic duties for white families, and she calls this an “insider” relationship, one where both parties are satisfied, to the point where some whites might say they reveal their love for their black “mothers”. It also allowed for these African American women to realize that white power is not all because of talent or intellect, but more so because of the advantages, they hold due to racism. However, although they were called black “mothers”, the women knew that they could not be a part of these families, they were the “outsiders” (14). Many believe that the outsider within status is quite beneficial than some may think. The benefits include the high probability of individuals deciding to confide in the “strangers” in the way they can’t with each other, the patterns and problems they can notice that others who are involved in such a situation can’t, and Simmel’s definition of objectivity. Mannheim also believes that individuals who hold the outsider within status may develop creative development skills of academic disciplines from the situations they usually have to deal with. Much of these women help Black Feminist scholars in analyzing race, class, and gender, and explaining the sociological significance of black feminists (15). The author uses cross-disciplinary literature to explain not only the Black Feminist thought but also the idea behind sociologists who describe African American women’s outsider within status as usage of their standpoint to conduct research (16).