Zastosowanie teorii Thomasa S. Kuhna w badaniach rewolucji medialnych

Abstrakt

The application of Thomas S. Kuhn’s theory in studies of media revolutions

The author of the article uses Thomas S. Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions to analyse media revolutions. She compares various ideas of social communication development to such beliefs questioned by Kuhn as the cumulative character of science and the purposefulness of scientific progress. The author presents a possible interpretation of the notion of paradigm in the context of communication, and uses the history of book culture to depict the functionality and problems related to a particular system of communication and the beginning of a crisis. From a number of communication tools aspiring to establish a new paradigm system, she selects computer technology as the one that fulfils the relevant conditions to the greatest extent. Referring to relevant excerpts of Kuhn’s work, she explains which factors may determine the success of a media revolution.