On Social Structure and ScienceUniversity of Chicago Press, 1996 M09 15 - 386 pages Robert K. Merton is unarguably one of the most influential sociologists of his time. A figure whose wide-ranging theoretical and methodological contributions have become fundamental to the field, Merton is best known for introducing such concepts and procedures as unanticipated consequences, self-fulfilling prophecies, focused group interviews, middle-range theory, opportunity structure, and analytic paradigms. This definitive compilation encompasses the breadth and brilliance of his works, from the earliest to the most recent. Merton's foundational writings on social structure and process, on the sociology of science and knowledge, and on the discipline and trajectory of sociology itself are all powerfully represented, as are his autobiographical insights in a fascinating coda. Anchored by Piotr Sztompka's contextualizing introduction, Merton's vast oeuvre emerges as a dynamic and profoundly coherent system of thought, a constant source of vitality and renewal for present and future sociology. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
I THEORETICAL WORK IN SOCIOLOGY | 21 |
II SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND ITS VICISSITUDES | 111 |
III SCIENCE AS A SOCIAL STRUCTURE | 203 |
CODA | 337 |
A Select Bibliography | 361 |
| 369 | |
| 377 | |
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Common terms and phrases
accumulation of advantage achieve action activity adaptation anomie assumption basic become belief chap Chicago cial claims conflict consequences Coser course cultural deviant behavior differential discipline discoveries distinctive dysfunctional economic Émile Durkheim emphasis empirical essay ethos expected durations fact Free Press functional analysis goals Harriet Zuckerman ideas in-group individual inquiry Insider doctrine institutional institutionalized intellectual interest involved latent functions limited logical manifest Marx Matthew effect Max Weber Merton moral multiples norms observation opportunity structure organization orientation original out-group paradigm particular pattern Paul Lazarsfeld political practice priority problems Puritan relations reprint Robert Robert K role role-set scientific scientists self-fulfilling prophecy social structure Social Theory society sociological ambivalence sociological theory sociologists sociology of knowledge Sociology of Science Sorokin status status-sets struc structural analysis theoretical Theory and Social thought tion values York Zuckerman