Paradigm defense mechanisms

Paradigm defense mechanisms are the informal, often unconscious practices by which scientific communities protect core theoretical frameworks from challenge. They are not conspiracies; they are emergent network behaviors that arise when a paradigm has become sufficiently central to a discipline's funding, prestige, and identity that challenging it becomes socially and professionally costly.

The most common defense mechanism is methodological gatekeeping: the rejection of papers, grants, and job applications on the grounds that they use non-standard methods, where standard means compatible