Major Works by Robert K. Merton
Social Theory and Social Structure, Enlarged Edition, 1968 [1949],
The Free Press: New York
From the Publisher:
Since its first publication in 1949, Social Theory and Social Structure
has become established as a work of central importance in the social science.
Providing the most systematic outline of the theoretical foundations of
functional sociology, it has been widely adopted and read by social scientist
throughout the world. The 1968 enlarged edition of this volume contains
the complete 1957 edition and two new essays. These essays, nearly
75 pages of new material, form an expanded introduction to the book.
The first, "On the History and Systematic of Sociological Theory," states
the case for the distinctive functions of histories of sociological theory
and formulations of currently utilized theory. Professor Merton shows
how the intellectual requirements for a history of sociological thought
call for more than chronologically ordered synopses of sociological doctrine.
The second, "On Sociological Theories of the Middle Range," reviews
the character and workings of this type of theorizing in the light of uses
and criticisms that have developed during the past two decades.
Table of Contents:
Preface to the 1968 Enlarged Edition
Preface to the 1957 Revised Edition
Acknowledgments
Part I
On Theoretical Sociology
I. On the History and Systematics of Sociological Theory
II. On the Sociological Theories of the Middle Range
III. Manifest and Latent Functions
IV. The Bearing of Sociological Theory on Empirical Research
V. The Bearing of Empirical Research on Sociological Theory
Part II
Studies in Social and Cultural Structure
Introduction
VI. Social Structure and Anomie
VII. Continuities in the Theory of Social Structure and Anomie
VIII. Bureaucratic Structure and Personality
IX. Role of the Intellectual in Public Bureaucracy
X. Contributions to the Theory of Reference Group Behavior (with Alice
S. Rossi)
XI. Continuities in the Theory of Reference Groups and Social Structure
XII. Patterns of Influence: Local and Cosmopolitan Influentials
XIII. The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Part III
The Sociology of Knowledge and Mass Communications
Introduction
XIV. The Sociology of Knowledge
XV. Karl Mannheim and the Sociology of Knowledge
XVI. Studies in Radio and Film Propaganda (with Paul F. Lazarsfeld)
Part IV
Studies in the Sociology of Science
Introduction
XVII. Science and the Social Order
XVIII. Science and the Democratic Social Structure
XIX. The Machine, the Worker, and the Engineer
XX. Puritanism, Pietism, and Science
XXI. Science and Economy of 17th Century England
Bibliographical Note
Index of Names
Subject Index
On Social Structure and Science, The University of Chicago Press:
Chicago
From the Publisher:
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.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1: The Uses and Abuses of Classical Theory
2: Theoretical Pluralism
3: On Sociological Theories of the Middle Range
4: Specified Ignorance
5: Paradigms: The Codification of Sociological Theory
6: Paradigm for Functional Analysis in Sociology
7: Manifest and Latent Functions
8: Social Dysfunctions
9: Paradigm for Structural Analysis in Sociology
10: The Role-Set
11: Sociological Ambivalence
12: Social Structure and Anomie
13: Opportunity Structure
14: Socially Expected Durations
15: The Unanticipated Consequences of Social Action
16: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
17: Paradigm for the Sociology of Knowledge
18: The Rise of Modern Science
19: Insiders and Outsiders
20: The Ethos of Science
21: Science and the Social Order
22: The Reward System of Science
23: Multiple Discoveries in Science
24: The Matthew Effect, II
Coda: A Life of Learning
Publications by and about Robert K. Merton: A Select Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index
Subjects:
Sociology: General Sociology
Philosophy of Science
On the Shoulders of Giants: A Shandean Postsript, 1965, The
Free Press: New York
From the Publisher:
With playfulness and a large dose of wit, Robert Merton traces the
origin of Newton's aphorism, "If I have seen farther, it is by standing
on the shoulders of giants." Using as a model the discursive and digressive
style of Sterne's Tristram Shandy, Merton presents a whimsical yet scholarly
work which deals with the questions of creativity, tradition, plagiarism,
the transmission of knowledge, and the concept of progress.
"This book is the delightful apotheosis of donmanship: Merton parodies
scholarliness while being faultlessly scholarly; he scourges pedantry while
brandishing his own abstruse learning on every page. The most recondite
and obscure scholarly squabbles are transmuted into the material of comedy
as the ostensible subject is shouldered to one side by yet another hobby
horse from Merton's densely populated stable. He has created a jeu d'esprit
which is profoundly suggestive both in detail and as a whole."--Sean French,
Times Literary Supplement
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