Standpoint, Objectivity, and Social Construction: Reflections from the Study of Gay and Lesbian Communities

This article considers a number of related concepts – standpoint, objectivity, emancipation – in the light of my own research which looked at gay and lesbian communities in the north-west of England. It advocates and promotes the use of gay and lesbian standpoint and defends research with emancipatory aims, notably in the light of academic and theoretical developments which eschew real-life experience and categories of identity rooted in lived actuality. Suggesting that queer theory is largely irrelevant to the lives of gay men and lesbians, it advocates a return to an engaged and practical sociology which acknowledges the benefit of research which has potential for application by the communities it observes.