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PARADIGM OR PERSPECTIVE?: A NOTE TO THE DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

NCJ Number
143145
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: (1993) Pages: 167- 175
Author(s)
M B Blankenship; S E Brown
Date Published
1993
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This analysis of Kuhn¦s concept of paradigms and its implications for developments in criminology concludes that a Kuhnian revolution has not occurred due to the emphasis on ideologies rather than on empirical evidence.
Abstract
In his essay titled "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," Kuhn focused on the development of knowledge and referred to methods of puzzle solving as paradigms. He proposed that scientific knowledge is advanced by revolutions generated by the inability to explain anomalies of the existing scientific tradition. The old paradigm gives way to the new paradigm through the process of revolution. In time, the social sciences began to use Kuhn's term to differentiate and discuss various theoretical perspectives. However, criminology has not experienced a Kuhnian revolution, because ideological competition among perspectives instead of a revolution between paradigms has occurred within the discipline. Because of this competition, which is based on values rather than on empirical evidence, theoretical development has stagnated. Whether or not a Kuhnian revolution necessary for the growth of criminological knowledge will occur will most likely turn on whether future criminologists recognize the limitations of current methodologies and seek new solutions to old theoretical problems. 31 references

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