Robert K. Merton Quotes

1910–2003 United States

Robert K. Merton (4 July 1910 – 23 February 2003) was a distinguished American sociologist perhaps best known for having coined the phrase "self-fulfilling prophecy."

United States
Historians
Sociologists

Also known as: Robert King Merton

Random Robert K. Merton quote

8 quotes

The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come "true".

Social Theory and Social Structure (1949)

By social structure is meant that organized set of social relationships in which members of the society or group are variously implicated.

Social Theory and Social Structure (1949)

Scientific research is not conducted in a social vacuum.

Social structure and anomie (1938)

The ethos of science involves the functionally necessary demand that theories or generalizations be evaluated in [terms of] their logical consistency and consonance with facts.

Merton (1938)

The extreme emphasis upon the accumulation of wealth as a symbol of success in our society militates against the completely effective control of institutionally regulated modes of acquiring a fortune.

Social structure and anomie (1938)

No man knows fully what has shaped his own thinking

Social Theory and Social Structure (1949)

The role of outstanding scientists in influencing younger associates is repeatedly emphasized in the interviews with laureates. Almost invariably they lay great emphasis on the importance of problem-finding, not only problem-solving.

Merton (1968)

[Merton states that anomie represents] An acute disjunction between the cultural norms and goals and the socially structured capacities of members of the group to act in accord with them.

Social Theory and Social Structure (1949)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Robert K. Merton (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.