Robert King Merton Libros

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.

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 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

"The book charts where the term went, with whom it resided, and how it fared. We cross oceans and academic specialties and meet those people, both famous and now obscure, who have used and abused serendipity. We encounter a linguistic sage, walk down the illustrious halls of the Harvard Medical School, attend the (serendipitous) birth of penicillin, and meet someone who "manages serendipity" for the U.S. Navy."--Jacket.

An important new field, the social studies of science as an institutionalized research specialty now claims the atten­tion of scholars both in the United States and Europe, as this important contribution shows.   The sociology of science is expanding rapidly to all social science as policy makers see its potential for resolving problems dealing with the social aspects of science. Its further importance is shown in this collection of detailed national reviews of research in the spe­cialty from all European countries with a history of significant research in the field.   The countries reported on are West Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy, Great Britain, Poland, and the Soviet Union. The contributors are all well-established scholars.   In addition to reporting on the state of the discipline, the contributors have compiled comprehensive bibliographi­cal source materials, which have increased rapidly in the last decade and hence may not be familiar to many researchers in other countries.   In the first part of this volume, the founding father” of the sociology of science, Robert K. Merton, gives the history of the specialty. Not uncharac­teristically, he raises questions on every page, the implications of which will provide abundant research projects and dissertation topics for researchers and their students.

The 1956 edition of this book may be regarded as seminal within sociology, spawning a whole field of qualitative opinion research that has continued to evolve through half a century of inquiry. This is a reissue of the book, with a new preface by Merton, a select bibliography of writings on the focused interview and focus group research, and a new introduction that traces the diffusion of Merton's technique from sociology to other fields, including history, psychology, mass media and marketing research.