ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the re-establishment of empirical research as central to the sociological task. It argues for a new standard of utility. The chapter also argues that empirical research is necessary precisely in order to create a radical and critical sociology. It discusses the process of data and theory constitution, the historicity of knowledge and its value-full character. The chapter considers the implications of this position for certain aspects of research practice. This leads on to a discussion of validation, and an analysis of the politics of knowing as central to this process. The chapter focuses on the threads of the argument and re-presents the sociologist's task. Publicity-openness to continuous critical reappraisal-is a fundamental criterion of scholarship. Publicity makes possible assessments of the representativeness of data, of the objectivity of theory and of the processes of data constitution.
