ABSTRACT
In addressing the broad question of the link between paradigmatic thinking and the making of men and masculinities, we explore the role of paradigms in the gendering of the field of Organization Theory (i.e. the sub-field of management and Organization Theory). We argue that the development of the study and theorizing of organizations has a lot to do with men and masculinities, as well as, arguably, impacting back on the organization(s) and organizing of men and masculinities. We begin with an outline of Burrell and Morgan’s notion of paradigms, their characterization of four main paradigms – Functionalism, Interpretivism, Radical Structuralism and Radical Humanism, and the implications of these paradigms for feminist theory. We then draw on Hearn and Parkin’s (1983) critique of the gendered characterization of paradigms. From there, we trace the roots of the paradigm debate in Kuhn’s theory of ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ (1962) to reveal the profoundly gendered character of the underlying philosophy and its influence on the constitution of the field of Organization Theory (OT). Drawing on Kuhn’s notion of paradigmatic development, we examine early gendered trends in the making of the field of OT.
