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Robert Merton: Manifest And Latent Theory

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Born in 1910 in Philadelphia into a working class Jewish emigrant family, Merton became a very important figure in Sociology as a whole. He started his education in Temple College and then later went on to Harvard where he studied Sociology in both. He proved extremely popular and highly respected when he was ranked the University’s highest academic rank, later to be awarded the national Medical of Science award and founding sociology of science. It’s important to add also that he was the first ever to do this. So why is Robert Merton so deserving of this? What makes his work so respected? A lot of it comes down to the passion he shows towards his area of expertise. Merton is a very prominent figure in sociology because of how he shaped and …show more content…

This demonstrates his willing ness to go against what was being told and shows how much of a great man he was for sociology because he was thinking against what was told and not going with it. He believed that Parsons generalized theorizing or grand theory should instead be middle range theory which is quite similar to Weber’s Protestant Ethic in a way that empirical realities which articulate the relations that exist between particular …show more content…

In society the ‘parts’ are structures, for example in society we have criminal systems, education systems. Within these parts they must carry out their niche or job in society. This should mean that society will run smoothly and everyone will be ok, but once one part doesn’t do their job correctly it causes an unwanted reaction. We need this theory of Merton’s to view the way we go about society. Manifest and Latent functions show how functions can be clear which is Manifest and Latent not so clear, a hidden function. As an example we could use a new job as an example of a social structure. People go into a new job to earn money, maybe gain experience this is a manifest function, whereas most people won’t think that a new job is good for the economy or they may meet a new partner there which is a latent function of a new

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It is also to highlight why functionalism becomes the dominant ideology when it comes to the structures in society. However, the word functionalism here is to be used in the Mertonian

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The phenomena that Merton 's theory indicates towards can be successfully explained with the help of an example of how people achieve or strive to achieve economic success. For instance, in the U.S which has a capitalist system, everybody is motivated to attain financial profitability for a greater sense of positive identity. There are two legally approved ways of accomplishing this task, education and work. However, not everyone may have access to equal opportunities because of brokered access or discrimination on the basis of class, gender, race, sexuality etc. that is prevalent in most societies (Broidy & Agnew,1997).

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(Connell 1997,1547). Just like, many other theories it has "limit of vision" sociology should take into account. Just like in sociology, where things are not what they seem the same goes for the foundation of sociology should be questioned. Only three white men are Canonization for sociology and taught all around the world forgetting about other great minds in history. Instead The full range of intellectuals who produced "theories of society" can be recovered for this history.

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To fully understand what Robert K. Merton contributed to sociology. We must understand who he was, what he believed in, why he believed what he did and finally, why he argued against other sociologists. In this essay, I will be talking about Self Fulfilling Prophecies, Middle Range Theories, Manifest and Latent Functions and the Strain between Culture and Social Structure. Robert Merton, is one of America’s most significant social scientists. He was born on the 4th of July 1910 and died 23rd February 2003, aged 92.

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