Essay on Robert: Sociology and Robert Merton

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Nikita Borodatov Marcia Frah Northwood University Sociology Project Robert K. Merton

Robert Merton
Robert. K Merton was one of the greatest sociologists that ever lived. He was born on July 4, 1910 in Philadelphia; son of Jewish Immigrants from Europe. His family owned a small dairy product shop in south Philadelphia, unfortunately it got burned down and Merton’s dad had to become carpenter. Robert’s family lacked wealth, but he always said that his childhood never lacked opportunities. He went to a pretty good high school and library that was founded by Andrew Carnegie (who was a very famous Scottish-American industrialist.). As we could see from interviews later on his life, Robert always mentioned that he got everything he could possibly get from being a slum in South Philadelphia in his young years. Things like social skills, human capital, public skills etc.) His original name was Meyer R. Schkolnick, but he changed it to Robert. K Merton at the age of 14, because of his teenage career as a magician, but it was not permanent. (Gerald, 2009)
However, when Robert won a scholarship to Temple University, he was allowed to change his name permanently. Temple University was his first big step toward his sociology career. He was very lucky to have sociologist, George Simpson as his undergraduate teacher. George was very kind to him and saw hidden talent for sociology in Merton. He took him for research studies, where media saw Robert. Very lucky as well he got a chance to meet people like Ralph Bunche who received Nobel Prize in his political studies and Franklin Frazier who was a famous American sociologist. Robert Merton was blessed to be around people like that, who are already the best in their fields. It was a great learning experience that took him to a completely different level. At one of the meetings where George Simpson took him, Robert met the head of sociology Department of Harvard University, Pitirim Solokin. He applied to Harvard and by the end of his second year his was already publishing works together with Solokin. (Gerald, 2009)
Mertons first works as a student were: “The Course of Arabian Intellectual Development”, “recent French Sociology”, “ Science and Military Technic”, etc. All of his works were looked at as articles that helped to invent the sociology of science. Robert also taught sociology at Harvard for a couple of years until he became the Chairman of department of sociology at Tulane University, where he worked for a little bit and then joined Columbia University. Robert Merton worked at a number of big schools and among working on his projects teaching was something that he enjoyed doing on the side.
By the age of 40 Merton was considered to be one of the most influential scientist in America and some his main studies included:
Theories of the Middle Range
Clarifying functional Analysis
Dysfunctions
Merton’s Theory of Deviance
Manifest and latent functions
And his main publications were:
Social Theory and Social Structure
The Sociology of Science
Sociological Ambivalence
On The Shoulders of Giants: A Shandean Postscript
On Social Structure and Science

Robert Merton had a huge impact on sociology and the world overall. He was probably the most influential sociologist ever and his influences were anywhere from intellectual innovation to institutional leadership. It was his work style and the way hi wrote and explained things that made it very easy for teachers and other sociologists to understand and teach others as well (S, 2001). Robert Merton’s works are inspirational, modeling and mentoring, which had huge, impact on generations of student and people overall. His most famous works are:
Social Theory and Social Structure (which talks about systematic outline of the theoretical foundations of functional sociology. Covering history and systematic of sociological theory and sociological theory of middle range.)
On Social Structure and
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