Positivism and Paradigm Dominance in Consumer Research: Toward Critical Pluralism and Rapprochement

Abstract

As spirited debate continues on the appropriate philosophical and methodological foundations for consumer research, participants claim the literature has been full of misconceptions, misunderstandings, misrepresentations, and mischaracterizations. Through historical methodology, this article shows that these "misses" stem, at least in part, from the debate's having been historically ill informed about the origins and fundamental beliefs of a group of philosophers called logical positivists. After addressing a fundamental premise of the entire debate (i.e., that contemporary social science and consumer research are dominated by positivism), this article advocates critical pluralism and documents a favorable prognosis for rapprochement. Copyright 1991 by the University of Chicago.