CHAPTER TWENTY
Dis/Location
Engaging Feminist Inquiry in the Sociology of Religion
Mary Jo Neitz
The impact of feminism and feminist scholarship on the field of sociology has been
much debated. This essay extends that debate to the sociology of religion and spiritual-
ity. I argue that those women sociologists who identified with the women’s movement
experienced a dislocation when they tried to move between their experiences as women
and their experiences in the world of sociology. This chapter emphasizes one response,
the call for a sociology for women, a radical rethinking of how we know what we know
and for whom we undertake this project of knowledge production. I begin with a short
discussion of feminism both inside and outside of the academy, and then I review a
broad range of studies that contribute to making women visible and explore questions
of gender and religion. Next I outline a method of inquiry that comes out of the work
of Dorothy Smith and Patricia Hill Collins. It is a feminist theory that begins with an
alternative epistemology, and posits a feminist sociology that takes as its core assump-
tion the idea that all knowledge is located and interested. I end with three works that
exemplify located, feminist research.
DEBATES ABOUT/WITHIN FEMINISM
Sitting down at my wordprocessor, I ponder the task before me. The idea of writing an
essay on “feminist theory and the sociology of religion” seems so much more problem-
atic than it did even ten years ago when I agreed to take on a similar task.^1 What it
means to talk about feminism and what it means to talk about theory has been “com-
plicated” by a decade of deconstruction. What do I say? Where do I begin? Feminists
do not speak with a single voice, and feminist theory never was, and certainly is not
now, a single perspective. What I write reflects my own passions, my own intellectual
(^1) In the review essay “Inequality and Difference,” I reviewed research on women and religion
in the sociology of religion published before 1990 (Neitz 1993). This essay will address work
published since that time. I also am looking primarily at research by sociologists. There are
now large literatures looking at this topic by scholars in history, anthropology, and religious
studies. These literatures are not included within the purview of this essay.
My deep appreciation to the many people who helped me think about this chapter and who read various
drafts: Mimi Goldman, Janet Jacobs, Nancy Nason-Clark, Karen Bradley, Kevin McElmurray, and Ann
Detwiler-Breidenbach, and special thanks to Lynn Davidman and Peter Hall.
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