Clarifying Confusions about Paradigms: A Reply to Ritzer

Tourists, mobilities and paradigms

“…Alternatively, if social sciences are like the natural sciences, we should be able to find exemplarsbut there are none. Instead, there is 'constant arguing, bickering, and debate, but very little agreement' (Eckberge and Hill 1979: 935), which is further demonstrated in their extensive exchanges with Ritzer (Hill and Eckberg 1981;Ritzer,1981). Despite such objections, prominent scholars have applied the NMP in tourism studies, and Erik and Scott Cohen, in particular, make important claims for its relevance in addressing tourist phenomena (2012a, 2015a, 2015b).…”

Partial Paradigm Shifts in the Social Sciences: Twenty Years of Research in Rural Sociology3

“…The paradigm concept introduced by Kuhn (1962) has had a profound impact on theoretical sociologists interested in the analytical or historical development of the discipline. However, since its inception, the paradigm concept itself has been a subject of much contention and controversy among philosphers of science (Lakatos and Musgrave 1970;Shapere 1964;Suppe 1974Suppe , 1977, as well as sociologists (Eckberg and Hill 1979;Hill and Eckberg 1981;Lemke and Picou 1985;Wells and Picou 1981). A detailed review of these and other relevant works is available elsewhere (Wells and Picou 1981), and we will not review them at this time.…”