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

— Robert K. Merton Social Theory and Social Structure (1949)

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More quotes by Robert K. Merton

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)

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)

All Robert K. Merton quotes →

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Robert K. Merton (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.