يادمان رابرت كينگ مرتن 1910-2003

Remembering Robert King Merton 1910-2003

Merton was born in the United States in 1910. After receiving his Ph.D.in Sociology from Harvard University, he accepted the invitation to work at the University of Columbia. He has written extensively on the theories and methods in sociology, particularly sociology of science, social problems and deviance. He was interested mostly in structural functionalism and functional analysis. Reviewing the rules and principles of classic functionalism, Merton. tried to incorporate theoretical and empirical principles into the middle range theory, introduce samples of this theory from masters of classical sociology like Durkheim and Weber, present middle range theories in sociology of science and social deviance, and establish a link between sociology and everyday issues, all of which played a significant role in the development of sociology. After so many years of research, education and management in sociology and receiving Honorary Ph.D. degrees from twenty accredited universities and scientific centres worldwide, Merton died in 2003, at the age of 93.