Question

Identify and describe the four paradigm shifts involving people with disabilities. What is responsible for the changes in paradigm shifts?

Answer 1

four paradigms: functionalist (micro-objective), interpretivist (micro-subjective), radical humanist (macro-subjective) and radical structuralist (macro-objective...

Social theory can usefully be conceived in terms of four key paradigms: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radical structuralist. The four paradigms are founded upon different assumptions about the nature of social science and the nature of society....

Paradigm shifts arise when the dominant paradigm under which normal science operates is rendered incompatible with new phenomena, facilitating the adoption of a new theory or paradigm. As one commentator summarizes: Kuhn acknowledges having used the term "paradigm" in two different meanings....

Changes That Occur During a Paradigm Shift

The obvious answer to this question is that what changes is simply the theoretical opinions of scientists working in the field. But Kuhn’s view is more radical and more controversial than that. He argues that the world, or reality, cannot be described independently of the conceptual schemes through which we observe it. Paradigm theories are part of our conceptual schemes. So when a paradigm shift occurs, in some sense the world changes. Or to put it another way, scientists working under different paradigms are studying different worlds.

For example, if Aristotle watched a stone swinging like a pendulum on the end of a rope, he would see the stone trying to reach its natural state: at rest, on the ground. But Newton wouldn’t see this; he’d see a stone obeying the laws of gravity and energy transference. Or to take another example: Before Darwin, anyone comparing a human face and a monkey’s face would be struck by the differences; after Darwin, they would be struck by the similarities.