The theory that whoever holds power determines not just policies but paradigms—the very frameworks through which reality is understood. Power Paradigms argues that truth, logic, science, and reality itself are shaped by those who control institutions, resources, and discourse. The powerful don't just dominate the world; they dominate the terms by which the world is understood. Paradigms shift not when evidence accumulates but when power shifts—when new groups gain the ability to define what counts as knowledge, what counts as reasonable, what counts as real. Power Paradigms explains why history is written by the victors, why certain knowledge is marginalized, why some truths are unspeakable. It's the theory that reality has a ruling class.
Example: "He used to think science was pure, objective, above politics. Then he learned about Power Paradigms—how funding shapes research, how institutions control publication, how those with power determine what counts as knowledge. Science wasn't corrupted; it was always political. The question wasn't whether power influenced knowledge, but whose power, and toward what ends."
by Abzugal February 21, 2026
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