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Social Theory and Social Structure (STSS) was a landmark publication in sociology by Robert K. Merton. It has been translated into close to 20 languages and is one of the most frequently cited texts in social sciences. [1] It was first published in 1949, although revised editions of 1957 and 1968 are often cited.
Manifest functions are the consequences that people see, observe or even expect. It is explicitly stated and understood by the participants in the relevant action. The manifest function of a rain dance, according to Merton in his 1957 Social Theory and Social Structure, is to produce rain, and this outcome is intended and desired by people participating in the ritual.
This theory is commonly used in the study of criminology (specifically the strain theory). In 1938, Merton's “Social Structure and Anomie,” one of the most important works of structural theory in American sociology, Merton's basic assumption was that the individual is not just in a structured system of action but that his or her actions may ...
Robert K. Merton hypothesized that individuals compare themselves with reference groups of people who occupy the social role to which the individual aspires. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [Merton] developed a theory of the reference group (i.e., the group to which individuals compare themselves, which is not necessarily a group to which those individuals ...
American sociologist Robert K. Merton expanded on Weber's theories of bureaucracy in his work Social Theory and Social Structure, published in 1957. While Merton agreed with certain aspects of Weber's analysis, he also noted the dysfunctional aspects of bureaucracy, which he attributed to a "trained incapacity" resulting from "over conformity".
Sociologist Robert K. Merton argued that sociological theory deals with social mechanisms, which are essential in exemplifying the 'middle ground' between social law and description. [7]: 43–4 Merton believed these social mechanisms to be "social processes having designated consequences for designated parts of the social structure." [8]
American sociologist Robert K. Merton (1910–2003) dedicates a section of Social Theory and Social Structure (1949; revised and expanded, 1957 and 1968) to the study of the sociology of knowledge in Part III, titled The Sociology of Knowledge and Mass Communications. [25]
A corollary to the need for common ownership of scientific knowledge is the imperative for "full and open" communication, which he saw in J. D. Bernal's 1939 book The Social Function of Science, as opposed to secrecy, which he saw espoused in the work of Henry Cavendish, "selfish and anti-social". [citation needed]