In the 1970s and 1980s descriptive translation studies reacted against the prescriptive and exclusively linguistic outlook of that generation. Since then descriptivism has entered the mainstream of translation studies, and has in turn been challenged by more recent approaches. Although the descriptivist paradigm in the study of translation is neither theoretically nor methodologically united, its main features may be summarized as an interest in translation as part of cultural history, a focus on translations as historical products, a preoccupation with literary translation, the adoption of a broadly functionalist framework, and a desire to contextualize and to valorize translation as a cultural practice. This entry first explains the emergence of the descriptive paradigm in translation studies and then addresses specific aspects and developments. It concludes with an account of challenges and criticisms.