Patricia Hill Collins Analysis

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Patricia Hill Collins, born in 1948, was an educator that later became a social theorist. She utilizes psychology, education and literature to give voice to the standpoint of past and current black women (Calhoun et al 2007: 313). In 2009, the ASA appointed Collins as President of the organization. She is the first black female to hold this position (Ritzer 2010: 218). Theory and Methodology Collins methodology is to find classical and contemporary black, feminist theorists and capture their experience to inform the standpoint of black women. Her theory envisions inequality as a matrix of domination, and black women have a unique voice as well as experience because of how race, class and gender inform their position in the matrix (Ritzer…show more content…
Domestic and sexual violence occur in each race and class, however there are differences in perceptions of and outcomes for victims. We unfortunately live in a society where “rape culture” permeates and diminishes the seriousness of these crimes, and victims of sexual assault must prove their innocence in the public court of opinion. We use stereotypes to classify the typical victims and perpetrators of sexual assaults and crimes, and only certain types of people are victims and perpetrators. Black women are historically viewed as seductresses that lure men of both races into compromising situations. The white, female victims attacked by an evil black stranger highlights the tinge of racism inherent in rape culture, and shows that we believe attacks only happen to truly innocent, unsuspecting victims and are only perpetrated by deranged…show more content…
The standpoint and voice of black women is lacking in classical and contemporary theory, and many women of color point out the second-wave feminist movement largely focused on issues that benefit white, middle class women rather than women of all races and classes. Dorothy Smith noted the intentional exclusion of women in classical and contemporary theory, and Collins took this criticism farther by calling out the women’s movement as well as the exclusion of minority races and low class women in the burgeoning discipline of gender sociology and

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