http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/07/04/happy-birthday-robert-merton/ Sociological Images encourages people to exercise and develop their sociological imaginations with discussions of compelling visuals that span the breadth of sociological inquiry. Fri, 25 May 2012 10:55:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/07/04/happy-birthday-robert-merton/comment-page-1/#comment-73673 gwen Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:23 +0000 http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/?p=7950#comment-73673 I don't disagree with you there. I find his ideas to be somewhat helpful when trying to get students to think about why some people might, say, sell drugs but still seek social acceptance and respect from others. But that's the only context where I bring him up--I don't understand why functionalism continues to be given equal time with other theories in sociology textbooks, given that very few sociologists today have work rooted primarily in that perspective. I don’t disagree with you there. I find his ideas to be somewhat helpful when trying to get students to think about why some people might, say, sell drugs but still seek social acceptance and respect from others. But that’s the only context where I bring him up–I don’t understand why functionalism continues to be given equal time with other theories in sociology textbooks, given that very few sociologists today have work rooted primarily in that perspective.

]]> http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/07/04/happy-birthday-robert-merton/comment-page-1/#comment-73494 Matt K Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:29:23 +0000 http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/?p=7950#comment-73494 By many accounts, Merton was a petty, unprofessional man, and his adherence to functionalism blinded him to the possibilities that innovation could mean anything but a kind of breaking the rules. I think everyone learns about him in intro sociology, but like Parsons, I'm hoping that his influence continues to decline. By many accounts, Merton was a petty, unprofessional man, and his adherence to functionalism blinded him to the possibilities that innovation could mean anything but a kind of breaking the rules. I think everyone learns about him in intro sociology, but like Parsons, I’m hoping that his influence continues to decline.

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