It has become sort of a 90's buzzword. The best description of paradigms I know of comes from Stephen Covey's excellent book, First Things First. When we try to change the behavior or the method without changing the paradigm, the paradigm eventually overpowers the change. This is the number one thing holding us back in changing our handling techniques. It is my opinion that a significant number of people in the livestock industry are in denial about handling.
Nobody thinks they are the ones putting stress on their animals.
This is exacerbated by the fact that we can get the animals to do what we want without changing anything. It might be stressful to both animals and humans, but we can get them. If we are getting by financially, there is little incentive to change. Attitude is important in working cattle. Moving and working animals should be a quiet, pleasant experience for both animal and handler.