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Technological Paradigms and Technological Revolutions - Thomas S. Kuhn and the History of Technology

Hong, Sungook

Seoul National University

Published: December 2012 · Vol. 34 No. 3 · pp. 563-591
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Abstract

This paper discusses and compares scholarly works published in Technology Studies (such as the history and sociology of technology, technology policy, and innovation studies), which have adopted and adapted Thomas Kuhn’s various ideas on scientific development that he proposed in his highly influential Structure of Scientific Revolutions(1962). For this purpose, this paper classifies such works into two categories: those which interprets Kuhn’s paradigms as a disciplinary matrix, an overarching concept that includes not only theories and models but also metaphysical principles and worldview; and those which take the concept of a paradigm as an exemplar, a concept narrower than the disciplinary matrix. Although such “Kuhnian” works were not so successful in establishing themselves as a paradigm in Technology Studies, they have yielded many interesting discussions and insights not only on the historical development and the social characteristics of technology but also on the innovative behavior of corporations.
Keywords: Thomas S. KuhnTechnological ParadigmTechnological Revolutionexemplarsocial construction of technologytechnological frame