Paradigm shifts as ideological changes: A Kuhnian view of endogenous institutional disruption

Abstract

In this article, my goal is to approach Thomas S. Kuhn's account of scientific development from the perspective of institutional theory. Reading it this way, his main work can be seen as a treatise on endogenous change of an institutional order, occurring under circumstances that do not allow the expectation of such discontinuities when deploying common institutional arguments. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, I draw on ideology as the set of beliefs incorporated in the system of orientation Kuhn calls paradigm. From his dense description of paradigm shifts, I deduce five propositions on the role of ideology in radical institutional change. Subsequently, I reconcile these propositions with assumptions of institutional theory and identify, in addition to some convergences, points of divergence, which give impetus to extend conceptions of institutional change.

Citation

Vogel, R. (2009), "Paradigm shifts as ideological changes: A Kuhnian view of endogenous institutional disruption", Meyer, R.E., Sahlin, K., Ventresca, M.J. and Walgenbach, P. (Ed.) Institutions and Ideology (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 27), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 85-113. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2009)0000027005