In recent years, the new paradigm of Western social and cultural geography has become a research hotspot in the domestic geographic circles, but some scholars have different opinions and argue that the new paradigm lacks the professional characteristics of geography and deviates from the traditional research paradigm. On the basis of combing the thoughts of Western humanistic geography school and the evolution of its paradigm, this paper analyses the background, basic issues, connotation and significance of the new paradigm of the new paradigm of Western social and cultural geography. The results show that the new paradigm of Western social and cultural geography advocates subjective ideas in geography, the turn of social and cultural theory, in addition, it also includes issues of "interrelationships" and "ethics, morality and ontogenesis". It is not only a reflection on positivism and space science characterized by the metrological revolution, as well as the "cultural superorganism" of the Berkeley School, but also a new interpretation paradigm of complex social space and cultural cognition caused by the growing globalization and global localization that have become increasingly prominent since the Second World War. In terms of research perspectives and objects, the new paradigm incorporates "human" into the study of geography and establishes the position of "human" in geography. The new paradigm predicts the possibility of social space as well as the significance and value of social culture through the filter of "theoretical turn". It guides people's attention to various spaces, especially spatial relations through the filter of "interrelationships", and strengthens the moral practice of social cultural geography and the promotion of human nature, reconstructs the harmonious coexistence of human and self, human and society and human and the natural environment through the filter of "ethics, morality and ontogenesis". The new paradigm uses a unique way to explain the geographic environment and the social, economic and cultural causes of the spatial process and interaction of human activities, which is a major change in the evolution of human cognition of natural and social environment practice and represents a new philosophy and thinking of geography. One of the reasons why there are different opinions on the new paradigm in Chinese academic circles is that researchers lack in-depth dialogue on the philosophical cognition of the old and new human geography paradigms, and the other reason is that the academic circles' theoretical interpretation of the new paradigm is insufficient. In the future, the Chinese school of social and cultural geography needs to actively embrace and absorb the reasonable contents of the western frontier theories, and construct a new discipline paradigm to actively respond to major issues reflecting China and the world on the basis of careful reference to the Western theories.