Paradigm Shift
Categories: Financial Theory
Feel that? Earthquake? No. Landslide? No. It’s a paradigm shift.
"Paradigm shift" describes a period when there are big changes to the basic ideas and norms in a scientific community.
Oh, the world isn’t the center of the universe? Paradigm shift. The scientific method is legit!? Paradigm shift. The U.S. switches over to the metric system? Future paradigm shift.
While that’s the original use of the term, paradigm shift has had its own, uh...paradigm shift. Now, paradigm shift is used more broadly to imply big, long-lasting changes...to a process, an institution, or even a culture. They can be on large scales, like the Industrial Revolution, or small scales, like...you stopped making PB&J for lunch everyday after a decade of doing so.
![](https://media1.shmoop.com/images/finance-glossary/two-dimes.jpg)