In honor of what would be Robert Merton’s 99th birthday if he were still alive, I present a lolcat, sent in by Jen G. (who got it from a student named Lisa):
Comments
-
Matt K
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.
-
gwen
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.
incoming linksSitemeter
© 2009 Sociological Images
