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Robert K. Merton was an influential American sociologist who developed important theories about how society works, including concepts like the "self-fulfilling prophecy" and ideas about how institutions and individuals interact. His work shaped modern sociology and helped establish it as a rigorous academic discipline that could explain patterns in human behavior and social systems.
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Key facts
- Born
- Meyer Robert Schkolnick , ( 1910-07-04 ) July 4, 1910, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, U.S.
- Died
- February 23, 2003 (2003-02-23) (aged 92), New York City, U.S.
- Known for
- Self-fulfilling prophecy Self-defeating prophecy Merton's strain theory of deviance Sociology of Science Functionalism Role model Reference group Mertonian norms Merton thesis Matthew effect
- Spouses
- Suzanne Carhart Harriet Zuckerman
- Children
- Vanessa Merton Robert C. Merton Stephanie Merton Tombrello
- Awards
- Guggenheim Fellowship (1949) Parsons Prize (1980) John Desmond Bernal Prize (1982) National Medal of Science (1994) Cooley-Mead Award (1997)
- Alma mater
- Harvard University ( MA , PhD ) Temple University ( BA )
- Doctoral advisor
- Pitirim Sorokin
- Other advisors
- Talcott Parsons , Lawrence Joseph Henderson , George Sarton
- Discipline
- Sociology
Article
Robert King Merton (born Meyer Robert Schkolnick; July 4, 1910 – February 23, 2003) was an American sociologist who is considered a founding father of modern sociology, and a major contributor to the subfield of criminology. He served as the 47th president of the American Sociological Association. He spent most of his career teaching at Columbia University, where he attained the rank of University Professor. In 1994 he was awarded the National Medal of Science for his contributions to the field and for having founded the sociology of science.
Merton's contribution to sociology falls into three areas: (1) sociology of science; (2) sociology of crime and deviance; (3) sociological theory. He popularized notable concepts, such as "unintended consequences", the "reference group", and "role strain", but is perhaps best known for the terms "role model" and "self-fulfilling prophecy". The concept of self-fulfilling prophecy, which is a central element in modern sociological, political, and economic theory, is one type of process through which a belief or expectation affects the outcome of a situation or the way a person or group will behave. More specifically, as Merton defined, "the self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior, which makes the originally false conception come true".
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Categories
1910 births2003 deaths20th-century American Jews20th-century American memoirists20th-century American sociologistsAmerican criminologistsAmerican historians of scienceAmerican mass media scholarsAmerican people of Russian-Jewish descentAmerican public administration scholarsColumbia University facultyCorresponding fellows of the British Academy