In this essay I will explore the various works and contributions that Robert Merton made to the field of sociology and how he defined and used these contributions. I will elaborate on each contribution individually and they impact it had on the sociological and scientific world.
Robert Merton, one of the founding fathers of modern sociology and an extremely influential and versatile sociologists, made so many worthy contributions to his field. In 1994, he was the first sociologist to receive the National Medal of Science for the contributions he made to the field and for also founding the 'sociology of science' (Dillon, 2010). The sociology of science considers the influences and social science components. It differs from the sociology of
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Merton also contributed ideas and theories on middle range theory, organisation and the deviance theory, among others. His goal considering the sociology of science was to research and clarify the links between social structure and science using sociology's 'conceptual frameworks' (Little, 2009).
The self-fulfilling prophecy is something that happens every day in our lives, constantly generating beliefs and perceptions that correspond to our experiences but, in many cases, do not fit into the situation in which we live. It is a false belief that directly and indirectly leads to it's own fulfilment. The process has three stages :
1. Having a false belief about someone.
2. Treating a person in a way that fits your false belief.
3. The person must respond to the treatment received confirming the false belief.
Merton used the term self-fulfilling prophecy to explain this behaviour, which occurs most often among those who seek to intuit what will happen in a particular situation. This can occur even as a way of life, which is determining all with their own behaviour, based on general expectations of society and the world in which we
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He described the reference group as 'the group to which individuals compare themselves, which is not necessarily a group to which those individuals belong' (Holton, 2004).
Merton reacted against Parson's grand theory and instead argued for middle-range theory stating, "I focus attention on what might be called theories of the middle range : theories intermediate to the minor working hypotheses evolved in abundance during the day-to-day routines of research and all the inclusive speculations comprising a master conceptual scheme from which it is hoped to derive a very large number of empirically observed uniformities of social behaviour." (Merton, 1968)
He proposed 8 key considerations for understanding the nature of sociological middle range theories :
1. 'Middle range theories are limited groups of assumptions from which specific hypotheses are logical derived and are confirmed by empirical research' (Merton,
There are five different forms of this theory, with two being represented by Llewelyn Moss, conformity and innovation. Inferring from the setting of this movie, the socially acceptable goals of the time were more than likely for a man to settle down and provide for his family. Moss attempts this conformity for as long as he can, until a better opportunity, the money, comes along. He decides that his current life isn’t enough for him, and attempts to innovate to raise his status in life. Unfortunately for Moss, he gets randomly killed by a separate party for the money, coinciding with the basis of Merton’s theory, that crime serves as a way to enforce these
Merton’s theory consists of five things. Conformity is when one accepts conventional goals and strive to earn those goals through socially accepted means. The kids in the neighborhood, their shared beginning, could most likely not afford to attend college at USC. So some of them could apply for a community college. But realistically college was not a common goal for the kids, completing high school and going was even struggle. In their shared beginning we see innovation the most. The people accepting cultural goals, but rejecting the accepting way of achieving them. Instead of getting a job to have these means, they often resort to selling jobs or living off of robberies. They want money and items money can buy, but they do not want to have a job or work. This relates to all of the gang activity we see. Parents in the neighborhoods however, can be applied to ritualism. Single mother’s working one or two minimum wage jobs to support their families. They gave up on achieving the goal, but they still continue to practice the socially accepted practices for obtaining jobs. They are working these minimum wage, under-paid jobs forever to support their family. While some parents ae resulting to ritualism, even more result to retreatism in these communities. They are completely rejecting the accepted ways of achieving goals. Drug addicts and alcoholics are a common scene in the movie, those people fit into this category. Gangs which are the most common theme and factor in the movie is compared to rebellion. These people reject accepted goal and means, while replacing them with new ones. Gang activity in the movie in a sense of family and acceptance by creating their own goals and
Classic Strain Theory, as introduced and defined by Robert Merton, is a Social Structure Theory used to help explain the effect one’s community, most notably lower class areas, has on their ability to achieve predetermined goals, usually considered culturally normal. Merton theorized that all people in a various culture and social structure have similar values, goals, and norms. He stated that within this social structure there are individuals who come from affluent upbringing and are therefore more likely achieve these goals, and most likely this will be attained through legitimate, culturally acceptable means. There are however, Merton said, lower class areas where individuals suffer from lack of educational and economic opportunities afforded the upper class, leading to resentment and anger individuals at their inability to achieve stated objectives and goals through legitimate means.
Sociology is the study of society and the interactions that occur within society itself. There are numerous methods of analyzing societies and the way the function, nonetheless, most methods fall in micro and macro level theories. Micro level theories allow sociologist to study smaller relationships such as individual or compact groups of people. On the other hand, macro level studies permit for larger scale investigations to take place. With both of these theories there are three theoretical perspectives used in sociology. Micro level theories include symbolic interactionism which focuses in interactions done with language and gestures and the means which allow such interactions to take place. Macro level theories include structural functionalism
Robert K. Merton established the stain theory from Emile Durkheim anomie theory. Merton felt as though the individuals in society wanted to become successful yet there was an obstacle that prevented them to reach that goal that society feels that people should obtain. He also felt that success was the driving force in society. However, many find it impossible to gain success. Nonetheless the prevention that leads the procurement of the goal in which leads a person to feel a sense of burden into finding other ways to purse that goal that society upholds an individual to have. This results in the variance of the societal goals and the proper means to accomplish it being anomie. In spite of that, society...
Sociology is the study of the relationships that humans have with each other and social institutions. It aims to understand the links that exist between individuals and the social structures around them and also the functions that these social institutions perform in society.
Sociology cannot be clearly explained as there are many different theories and theorists; so far none of them have been defined as a correct answer. Although with all this information of theories and theorists sociology is relatively explained as agreed philosophies that delivers a reason for human society. Sociological theories are like most other theories, they are selective, and there is no quantity of theory to explain everything or define the infinite amount of information that exist or comprehend the methods of observing reality. Sociological theories vary and can be linked to each other according to various criteria. The two main perspectives of sociology are the micro sociological approach and the macro sociological approach. The micro sociological approach is based more on the persons being capable of their own independent thoughts feelings and behaviour; therefor society is built through their interactions amongst each other and the significances they attach to them. This approach is defined using Social Action Theory and Symbolic Interactionism. The Macro Sociological approach is on a much bigger scale and consists of a person being born into a current society which will then shape their behaviour. It centres on the organisations, values and the culture of that particular society and how it impacts an individual and their role in life. This approach is made clearer using Functionalism, Feminist and Conflict Theories.
Merton valued a positivistic cumulative science and believed that social science should build upon previous research. He believed that sociological theory should specify the relationships between variables. Having specific and testable classifications was important for Merton (Lecture 2: Functionalism-Merton). These values led Merton to develop what he called theories of the middle range. Merton defines these as theories that lie between day to day hypothesis and the all-inclusive systematic efforts to develop a unified theory that will explain all the observed uniformities of social behavior, social organization, and social change (ibid).
Ed. David McLellan. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Merton, Robert King. Social Theory & Social Structure.
Sociology also deals with today’s clothing designs where everyone wears clothes or tries to be like someone else or a celebrity. Things change in the world daily. If everything in the world went the same every day, it would be boring. In this society there are two levels to sociology, which are microsociology and macrosociology. Macrosociology is “the level of analysis that studies large-scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals” (Ferris and Stein 2014:p16). Macrosociology also “pulls back to study large-scale social processes and their effects on individuals and groups” (Ferris and Stein 2014:p16). This means to study a large group of college students who has an apple computer and why they choose an apple computer. Microsociology is “the level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small group interactions in order to understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions of society” (Ferris and Stein 2014:p16). Microsociology also “zooms in to focus on individuals and their interactions in order to understand larger social structures” (Ferris and Stein 2014:p16). Microsociology means to study a group of students from that class that has an apple computer and how much they use
Merton (1968) states that there are five levels to adaptation to social structure: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion. Social structure states that society gives people goals and means to achieve them. Some people conform while others might not have the means to achieve goals given to them by society which can lead to crime. Another factor is identifying the stigmas that are associated with labels. Chambliss (1973) labeling theory suggests that stigmas are placed on people who are seen as criminals. Therefore, when a person is labeled as a criminal they will be perceived as one by their community which in return can lead to criminalizing all the community’s behaviors.
Featherstone, R., & Deflem, M. (2003). Anomie and strain: Context and consequences of Merton’s two theories. Sociological Inquiry, 73(4), 471-489.
While Merton certainly gave greater emphasis to the effect of societal level anomie rather
I think everyone should ask themselves what is sociology? I believe that sociology is the scientific study of social behavior or society, including its origins, development, organization, networks, and institutions. This is a huge topic to cover. Sociology explains the way people act and think, based on
To Quote Anthony Giddens: "Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals in the street up to the investigation of world-wide social processes“(1989). Gidden’s statement describes sociology as a study that helps us understand our own behaviour as human beings in a social word. Sociologist study everything from the interaction between people in the street to the interaction between different countries. Sociologists aim to study how societies have changed over, how societies are structured and organized, the norms of society. It’s also important to understand that not all sociologists agree with each other, Sociologists often debate with one another to prove/disprove certain theories and concepts. By studying Sociology is it helps us analyze social conflicts on a micro and macro scope. Through a macro level, we can study large-scale social organization and large social categories it also examinees social processes and patterns society as a whole. We can analyze individuals much deeper on a micro level. This way we study a human by face-to face interactions. Its important as humans to understand the way our society came together and the reasons to how elements work and function together. Sociology gives us a deeper