This paper is about social research and how it illuminates theoretical issues. The idea is that the observations and the values of the researcher can be very different, coming from the outside, in relation to how residents feel about the places in which they live and work. There is often a strong bias related to social class and education that can cut off the researcher from 'what is really going on' in an area, and in the feelings of those who live in it, towards what can even seem very bad environmental conditions.
