Robert Merton July 4 1910 February 23 2003 Biographical Background Information Birth name Meyer R Schkolnick Born in Philadelphia to working class Jewish Eastern European immigrant parents While growing up in Philadelphia in high school he became a frequent visitor of the nearby Andrew Carnegie Library The Academy of Music Central Library and the Museum of the Arts Best known for coining the phrases self fulfilling prophecy role model and unintended consequences It is a popular misconception that Merton was a student of Talcott Parsons who was actually only a junior member of his dissertation committee along with Carle Zimmerman George Sarton and Pitirim Sorokin a man who greatly influenced Merton His sociological career began at Temple University studying with George E Simpson and then under Pitrim A Sorokin at Harvard Dissertation was on the social history of the scientific development in England in the seventeenth century Merton was married twice including once to fellow sociologist Harriet Zuckerman He had one son and two daughters including Robert C Merton who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in economics Honors and Recognition Taught at Harvard then became a professor and chairman of the Department of Sociology at Tulane University 1939 1941 joined the faculty of Columbia University and became a Giddings Professor of Sociology 1963 1974 achieved the highest rank at Columbia University as a University Professor and later a Special Service Professor upon his retirement 1979 One of the first sociologists elected to the National Academy of Sciences First American sociologist elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Also a member of the American Philosophical Society the American Academy of Arts and Sciences through which he received a Parsons Prize the National Academy of Education and Academica Europaea 1961 received a Guggenheim fellowship 1983 88 the first sociologist to be named a MacArthur Fellow Was awarded with honorary degrees from over twenty institutions including Yale Harvard Columbia Chicaco and many universities abroad 1994 received the U S National Medal of Science as the first sociologist to receive the award Major Theories Theories of the middle range Clarifying functional analysis fills in the blanks between empiricism and all inclusive theory Influenced by Weber and Durkheim Functionalism is centralized in interpreting data by consequences for larger structures Society is analyzed with reference to cultural and social structures in regard to how well or badly they are integrated Influenced by Durkheim and Parsons Dysfunctions His work implies that all institutions are inherently good for society emphasizing the importance and existence of dysfunctions Approaches conflict theory He states that we can only explain and discover alternatives to disfunction if we recognize the disfunctional aspects of institutions Major Theories continued Manifest and latent functions Manifest functions are expected or observed consequences Latent functions are those that are not recognized or intended Merton sees attention to latent functions as increasing understanding of greater society in going beyond individuals motivation Says that dysfunctions can also be manifest or latent Functional alternatives Like other functionalists believes that societies must have certain characteristics to ensure survival Merton emphasizes that other institutions are also able to fulfill the same functions This is important because sociologists have become aware to the similarities between functions of different institutions and reduces the tendency of functionalism to imply approval of the status quo Major Theory Deviance Typology Used the term anomie from Durkheim to mean A discontinuity between cultural goals and the legitimate means available for reaching them Ritualism is the acceptance of the means but the forfeit of the goals Retreatism is the rejection of both the means and the goals 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 Image Ryan Cragun 2005 from Wikipedia Major Theory Sociology of Science Sociology of science Developed the Merton Thesis which explains causes of the scientific revolution and the Mertonian norms of science identified commonly by the acronym CUDOS CUDOS is a set of ideas that are in Merton s view the goals and methods of science including Communalism common ownership of scientific discoveries according to which scientists give up intellectual property rights in exchange for recognition and esteem Universalism according to which claims to truth are evaluated in terms of universal or impersonal criteria and not on factors such as ethnicity status gender or faith Disinterestedness according to which scientists are rewarded for acting in ways that outwardly appear to be selfless Organized Skepticism all ideas must be thoroughly tested and be made subject to community scrutiny Merton s Publications Social Theory and Social Structure 1949 The Sociology of Science 1973 Sociological Ambivalence 1976 On the Shoulders of Giants A Shandea Postscript 1985 The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science 2004 Manifest and Latent Functions 1957 Robert K Merton Distinguishing Manifest and Latent Functions there has often been confusion between conscious motivations for social behavior and its objective consequences difference between motives and functions manifest functions those objective consequences for a specified unit person subgroup social or cultural system which contribute to its adjustment or adaptation and were so intended latent functions unintended and unrecognized consequences Heuristic Purposes of the Distinction clarifies the analysis of seemingly irrational data distinction aids the interpretation of social practices which persist even though their manifest purpose is not achieved when group behavior does not attain its supposed purpose there is an inclination to attribute its occurrence to lack of intelligence innocence etc Hopi rain dance does not produce rainfall it can be labeled as superstitious and the Hopi people viewed as primitive concept of latent functions extends beyond whether or not behavior attained its purpose directs attention towards individual personalities involved in behavior and