The author's intention is to advocate a critical sociology, feminist or relational in approach. Hearn argues that researchers will generate critical and emancipatory knowledge by adopting “a particular standpoint of men's anti-patriarchal praxis.” To highlight the possibilities for this standpoint, he explores the following questions: First, is it possible or useful to employ the categories “men” and “masculinities”? Second, is it possible to construct critical histories of men and masculinities? Third, is it possible to move beyond the structure-agency duality in developing a critical sociology of men? And finally, can men adopt an anti-patriarchal standpoint and pursue the “auto-critique of oppressors” this would require?