Adorno here refers to the so-called Positivismusstreit (Positivism debate) in which he was engaged, arguing against the straightjacket that uncritical, positivistic sociological paradigms such as those propagated by Alphons Silbermann imposed on a critical theory of society.
See especially Theodor W. Adorno et al., Der Positivismusstreit in der deutschen Soziologie (Neuwied: Luchterhand, I969).