Geopolitical power shifts track paradigm shifts in area studies scholarship

Evidence

It is unwise to suggest any form of intellectual conspiracy, but the coincidence of international power politics in the region and the changing nature of the analytical paradigm favored by social scientists has to be noted. For although modernization theory still prevailed in Western social sciences, scholars writing on the Middle East turned to the analytical paradigm developed by the historians in the early 1950s. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3496

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to similar debates about paradigm change driven by political context in other area studies (e.g. Sovietology, Cold War area studies funding). — connects to: US area-studies programs grew from government knowledge needs during decolonization