#classical islam

We were talking about Hadith and Tafseer. My prof was talking about how most Muslims like to root themselves in the past to add authority, however, most people in the past existed in a particular world outlook (a patriarchal society vs an equitable society). This issue is cause for problem among most modern muslims who want to promote social justice in Islam but are often persuaded away from modern interpretations and forced to use ancient ones which are less than equitable.

I haven't been met with this personally so I asked if this was largely a problem on the Sunni side than Shi'a. I had been under the impression that Shi'a were more open to modern interpretation than Sunni, but apparently, at least in Hawza, we're still stuck on gaining authority through ancient sources.

But then later I realized that question could be seen as polemic and then I felt like an ass.