SOCIOL 3P03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Merton Thesis, Matthew Effect, Contemporary Sociology
1 Feb 2018
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He wants sociology to be more of a science. Merton said the goal of a science is to identify general laws of society. He also wanted sociology to speak to the public and be well written foundations theory of society that can one day be pieced together. Middle range theory , to divide sociology into smaller more specific theories to develop. He argued that parsons grand theory was untestable model and focused on. Believed we had to break up into sociology of education, science, deviance etc description and develop theory within each - middle range theories. Influenced by durkheim and weber (suicide and the protestant ethic) Refer to the matthew effect reading below. The tensions between political and public engagement and scholarship: He was a public intellectual (someone who comments on political cultural issues and develop ideas to spread to the general public) Merton wrote (books) for the public as well as sociologist - well written.
