Robert K. Merton
Robert King Merton (July 4, 1910 � February 23, 2003, born Meyer R.
Schkolnick to immigrant parents) was a distinguished American
sociologist perhaps best known for having coined the phrase
"self-fulfilling prophecy." Robert K. Merton also coined many other
phrases that have gone into everyday use, such as "role model" and
"unintended consequences". He spent most of his career teaching at
Columbia University, where he attained the rank of University Professor.
It is a popular misconception that Robert K. Merton was one of Talcott
Parsons� students. Parsons was only a junior member of his dissertation
committee, the others being Pitirim Sorokin, Carle C. Zimmermanm and the
historian of science, George Sarton. The dissertation, a quantitative
social history of the development of science in seventeenth-century
England, reflected this interdisciplinary committee (Merton, 1985).
Merton was heavily influenced by Pitirim Sorokin, who tried to balance
large-scale theorizing with a strong interest in empirical research and
statistical studies. Sorokin and Paul Lazarsfeld influenced Merton to
occupy himself with middle-range theories.
Biography of Robert K.Merton
Robert K. Merton was born to working
class Jewish Eastern European immigrants on July 4, 1910, in
Philadelphia. Educated in the South Philadelphia High School, he became
a frequent visitor of the nearby Andrew Carnegie Library, The Academy of
Music, Central Library, Museum of Arts and other cultural and
educational centres. He started his sociological career under the
guidance of George E. Simpson at Temple University in Philadelphia
(1927-1931), and Pitrim A. Sorokin in Harvard University (1931-1936).
He taught at Harvard until 1939, when he became professor and chairman
of the Department of Sociology at Tulane University. In 1941 he joined
the Columbia University faculty, becoming Giddings Professor of
Sociology in 1963. He was named to the University's highest academic
rank, University Professor, in 1974 and became Special Service Professor
upon his retirement in 1979, a title reserved by the Trustees for
emeritus faculty who "render special services to the University." In
recognition of his lasting contributions to scholarship and the
University, Columbia established the Robert K. Merton Professorship in
the Social Sciences in 1990. He was associate director of the
University's Bureau of Applied Social Research from 1942 to 1971. He was
an adjunct faculty member at Rockefeller University and was also the
first Foundation Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. He withdrew
from teaching in 1984.
Merton received many national and international honors for his research.
He was one of the first sociologists elected to the National Academy of
Sciences and the first American sociologist to be elected a foreign
member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and a Corresponding
Fellow of the British Academy. He was also a member of the American
Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which
awarded him its Parsons Prize, the National Academy of Education and
Academica Europaea.
He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1962 and was the first
sociologist to be named a MacArthur Fellow (1983-88). More than 20
universities awarded him honorary degrees, including Harvard, Yale,
Columbia and Chicago, and, abroad, the Universities of Leyden, Wales,
Oslo and Krak�w, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Oxford.
In 1994, Merton was awarded the US National Medal of Science and was the
first sociologist to receive the prize.
Merton was married twice, including to fellow sociologist Harriet
Zuckerman. He had one son and two daughters from the first marriage,
including Robert C. Merton, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in economics.
His daughter, Vanessa Merton, is a Professor of Law at Pace University
School of Law.
Works of Robert K.
Merton
Theories of the middle range
Middle-range theories, applicable to
limited ranges of data, transcend sheer description of social phenomena
and fill in the blanks between raw empiricism and grand or all-inclusive
theory. In his advocacy of these kinds of theories Merton stands on the
shoulders of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber.
Clarifying functional analysis
Merton argues that the central
orientation of functionalism is in interpreting data by their
consequences for larger structures in which they are implicated. Like
Durkheim and Parsons he analyzes society with reference to whether
cultural and social structures are well or badly integrated. Merton is
also interested in the persistence of societies and defines functions
that make for the adaptation of a given social system. Finally, Merton
thinks that shared values are central in explaining how societies and
institutions work. However he disagrees with Parsons on some issues
which will be brought to attention in the following part.
Dysfunctions
Parsons� work tends to imply that all
institutions are inherently good for society. Merton emphasizes the
existence of dysfunctions. He thinks that some things may have
consequences that are generally dysfunctional or which are dysfunctional
for some and functional for others. On this point he approaches conflict
theory, although he does believe that institutions and values can be
functional for society as a whole. Merton states that only by
recognizing the dysfunctional aspects of institutions, can we explain
the development and persistence of alternatives. Merton�s concept of
dysfunctions is also central to his argument that functionalism is not
essentially conservative.
Manifest and latent functions
Manifest functions are the consequences
that people observe or expect, latent functions are those that are
neither recognized nor intended. While Parsons tends to emphasize the
manifest functions of social behavior, Merton sees attention to latent
functions as increasing the understanding of society: the distinction
between manifest and latent forces the sociologist to go beyond the
reasons individuals give for their actions or for the existence of
customs and institutions; it makes them look for other social
consequences that allow these practices� survival and illuminate the way
society works.
Dysfunctions can also be manifest or latent. Manifest dysfunctions of a
festival include traffic jams, closed streets, piles of garbage, and a
shortage of clean public toilets. Latent dysfunctions might include
people missing work after the event to recover.
Functional alternatives
Functionalists believe societies must
have certain characteristics in order to survive. Merton shares this
view but stresses that at the same time particular institutions are not
the only ones able to fulfill these functions; a wide range of
functional alternatives may be able to perform the same task. This
notion of functional alternative is important because it alerts
sociologists to the similar functions different institutions may perform
and it further reduces the tendency of functionalism to imply approval
of the status quo.
Merton�s theory of deviance
The term anomie, derived from Emile
Durkheim, for Merton means: a discontinuity between cultural goals and
the legitimate means available for reaching them. Applied to the United
States he sees the American dream as an emphasis on the goal of monetary
success but without the corresponding emphasis on the legitimate avenues
to march toward this goal. This leads to a considerable amount of (the
Parsonian term of) deviance. This theory is commonly used in the study
of criminology (specifically the strain theory).
Cultural goals Institutionalized means Modes of adaptation
+ + Conformity
+ - Innovation
- + Ritualism
- - Retreatism
� � Rebellion
Conformity is the attaining of societal goals by societal accepted
means, while innovation is the attaining of those goals in unaccepted
ways. Ritualism is the acceptance of the means but the forfeit of the
goals. Retreatism is the rejection of both the means and the goals and
rebellion is a combination of rejection of societal goals and means and
a substitution of other goals and means. Innovation and ritualism are
the pure cases of anomie as Merton defined it because in both cases
there is a discontinuity between goals and means.
Sociology of science
Merton carried out extensive research
into the sociology of science, developing the Merton Thesis explaining
some of the causes of the scientific revolution, and the Mertonian norms
of science, often referred to by the acronym "Cudos". This is a set of
ideals that are dictated by what Merton takes to be the goals and
methods of science and are binding on scientists. They include:
* Communalism - the common ownership of scientific discoveries,
according to which scientists give up intellectual property rights in
exchange for recognition and esteem (Merton actually used the term
Communism, but had this notion of communalism in mind, not Marxism);
* Universalism - according to which claims to truth are evaluated in
terms of universal or impersonal criteria, and not on the basis of race,
class, gender, religion, or nationality;
* Disinterestedness - according to which scientists are rewarded for
acting in ways that outwardly appear to be selfless;
* Organized Skepticism - all ideas must be tested and are subject to
rigorous, structured community scrutiny.
The CUDOS set of Mertonian scientific norms is sometimes identified as
Communism, Universalism, Disinterestedness, *Originality* (novelty in
research contributions), and Skepticism (instead of Organized
Skepticism). This is a subsequent modification of Merton's norm set, as
he did not refer to Originality in the essay that introduced the norms
(The Normative Structure of Science [1942]).
He introduced many relevant concepts to the field, among them
'obliteration by incorporation' (when a concept becomes so popularized
that its inventor is forgotten) and 'multiples' (theory about
independent similar discoveries). Another much-discussed contribution
was his identification of the Matthew effect. See also Stigler's law of
eponymy.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton
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