ABSTRACT
Dorothy Smith is a Marxist, feminist sociologist who rejected traditional sociology and instead developed a sociology ‘for the people’ which can be used to examine power and oppression within organisations and institutions. Critical to her work is understanding how the day-to-day activity of people reveals social and institutional power as privileged sources of knowledge. Smith is renowned for her use of standpoint theory and the development of institutional ethnography; a method of sociological inquiry and research that examines how dominant ideologies are exercised within organisations and institutions. This approach has been distinctive in the way it has examined managerialist processes and procedures within organisations, observing the way regimes of power and control operate. Through analysis of organisational texts, such as case files, assessment forms or funding applications, how information maintains hegemonic social order is revealed. This chapter explains Smith’s sociology with reference to her use of standpoint theory and institutional ethnography and how power is often replicated unknowingly by social workers. By critically reflecting upon these organisational processes, it is hoped social workers, educators and researchers can engage in transformative social change which is, in Smith’s words, ‘by the people for the people’.
