There is no question about what a scientific community “is.” The question is what binds its members together as working in the same discipline. Although he does not say so, this is the fundamental sociological question to be asked of any identified group, large or small, be it political, religious, ethnic, or simply a soccer club for teenagers, or a group of volunteers who deliver meals on wheels to the elderly. What keeps the group together as a group? What will cause a group to divide into sects, or simply to fall apart? Kuhn answered in terms of paradigms.
