Paradigms: What They Are and How to Use Them in Your Research

Theories serve a few different functions. First, they help us develop logical explanations for what's going on in the universe. When conducting research to either prove, or disprove, a theory, they help us avoid untrue explanations. Second, they help us make sense of patterns by providing explanations for what causes these patterns, while at the same time leaving the possibility for alternative explanations. Finally, theories help us design and direct our research. That is, they help us focus our attention on a specific area of the universe, instead of simply just observing and trying to make sense out of it afterwards.

When I say "universe," I don't necessarily mean "space" or the cosmos. I mean, anything. However, since the focus of this blog is social science, I'll narrow down our focus to better relate to sociology and the social sciences.

Why paradigms are important in the social sciences

In the social sciences, paradigms are a like lenses through which we can view the world. There is always more than one paradigm through which to view the social world. For example, I can look at the interaction between two individuals and look for power relations. I could also look for the types of behaviors each uses in order to communicate with each other that they're interested in making a connection. Paradigms are simply a point of view, of which there are many.

It's important to identify your paradigm when conducting research. Your research will never be completely objective and free of paradigm. It also won't be able to capture every possible paradigm. For this reason, it's a good idea to know what paradigm you want to focus on before you do research, then proceed with observation and data collection. This will make it easier for you to know exactly what you're looking for.

Understanding our, and others', paradigms helps us better make sense of behavior. For example, it could help us understand why men take certain jobs compared to women. Perhaps men are looking at career through a different paradigm? Also, if we can acknowledge our own paradigm, and maybe even its source, we can attempt to think outside of it and let in even more perspectives about the world.

In science, paradigms tend to stick around until they are challenged, and a resulting "paradigm shift" occurs. For example, viewing the economic world through "marxist" terms would mean that you have a certain perspective in which there exists a constant state of conflict between labor sellers and labor buyers. A paradigm shift would have occurred the moment some social scientist came around and started pointing out the limitations of viewing the economic world through such a simplistic paradigm. Typically, a scientific paradigm begins to be challenged when observations begin to defy the expectations of the paradigm (also known as anomalies).

In the social sciences, most established paradigms are neither completely true or completely false, but simply focus on different areas within our complex social world. There are paradigms which focus on the big picture through the use of "macro theory." There are also paradigms which focus on the smaller picture through the use of "micro theory." Some theories can also transgress paradigms and be used in either macro or micro theory (for example, conflict theory).

The big three

There are three mainstream paradigms within sociology: Conflict, Structural Functionalism and Symbolic interactionism. There are more, but these three are the most important.

The conflict paradigm views human behavior to be in a constant power struggle. This paradigm could be applied to socio-economic classes, countries, families, or even individuals. For example, Marx's theories were all about how the owners of "the means of production" were in constant conflict with those who only had their labor to sell. The conflict perspective could also be applied to a small group setting by paying close attention to, for example, who dominates conversation and decides on group talking points. You can apply the conflict perspective to situations in which numerous groups with similar interests exist within one realm.

Structural functionalism focuses more on how these different groups, and human activities, are functional to society. It asks the question: "How is it that society stays together, despite all of these competing interests?" If used correctly, it should avoid personal values and merely express perceived functions. For example, the famous sociologist Emile Durkhem was in many ways a "functionalist." He believed that society's parts were like organs in a body, and that each organ played a vital role in maintaining society (the organism).

Finally, Symbolic interactionism is exclusively a micro theory paradigm that focus on interactions between individuals. It could be described as a form of "social psychology." This paradigms tends to focus on how the individual's personality is formed by his interactions with others. For example, if everyone tells the individual he/she is smart, he/she likely to conclude we're smart. If people behave in a way that they seem repulsed by him/her, he/she is likely to conclude that there is something repulsive about him/her. Symbolic interactionism also focuses on how individuals are socialized into society, and how they acquire their individual behaviors from others as well.

It's important to keep yourself aware of what paradigm you're using when conducting your research. No one paradigm is "correct" and so by ignoring other paradigms your research may not be as valuable. A good strategy is to keep "the big three" in mind and use them all to gain a more holistic perspective of the social activity you want to learn about.