Concepts and the Social Order-Robert K. Merton and the Future of Sociology

250 Pages·2011·3.857 MB·English

by  Yehuda Elkana, Andras Szigeti, Gyorgy Lissauer

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
TableofContents Thevolumeoffersacomprehensiveperspectiveonknowledgeproductioninthefieldofsociology. RC AbouttheEditors
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Moreover,itisatributetothescopeofMerton’sworkandtheinfluenceMertonhashadonthework en
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ListofIllustrationsandTables andlifeofsociologistsaroundtheworld.Thisisreflectedineachofthe12chaptersbyinternationally tc
Ke YehudaElkanaInstituteofAdvancedStudy,Berlin
BookConceptandPrefaceYehudaElkana
acclaimedscholarswitnessingtherangeoffieldsMertonhascontributedtoaswellasthepersonal .p
NotetoSoundandSculptureAmosElkanaandAlexanderPolzin Mt AndrásSzigetiCentralEuropeanUniversity
impacthehashadonsociologists. e
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Introduction toa GyörgyLissauerFreelanceresearcher
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1.TheParadoxesofRobertK.Merton:Fragmentary Amongothers,thechaptersdealwithhistoryandsocialcontext,anexplorationof sociologyinthree
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ReflectionsArnoldThackray n
verydifferentcountries;therelationshipbetweenscienceandsociety;theroleofexperienceandthe d
2.LookingforShoulderstoStandon,orforaParadigmfor t
conceptualword;the“Mattheweffect”and“repetitionwithvariation.”Thecontributorsconsidera thh
theSociologyofScienceAnnaWessely
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3.R.K.MertoninFrance:Foucault,Bourdieu,Latourand numberofMertonianthemesandconcepts,re-evaluatingthem,adaptingthem,highlightingtheir F
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theInventionofMainstreamSociologyinParisJean-Louis continuedrelevanceandthusopeningawellofpossibilitiesfornewresearch. tuo dite
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11.RepetitionwithVariation:AMertonianInquiryintoa u
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LostMertonianConceptCharlesCamic
Concepts and the Social Order
12.RobertK.MertonandtheTansformationofSociology
ofKnowledgeandPossibleNewDirectionsShmuelNoah
615-5053-41-2
Eisenstadt 90000> Robert K. Merton and the Future of Sociology
Bibliography
ListofContributors
Index
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Concepts and the Social Order
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Concepts and the Social Order
Robert K. Merton and the Future of Sociology
Edited by
Yehuda Elkana, András Szigeti, György Lissauer
Central European University Press
Budapest–New York
consept 0:Whats minta 1 7/21/11 4:02 PM Page iv
© 2011 byYehuda Elkana, András Szigeti, György Lissauer
Published in 2011by
Central European University Press
An imprint of the
Central European University Share Company
Nádor utca 11, H-1051 Budapest, Hungary
Tel:[phone] or 327-3000
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Website: www.ceupress.com
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, without the permission
of the Publisher.
ISBN978-615-5053-41-2 cloth
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Concepts and the social order : Robert K. Merton and the future of sociology
/ edited by Yehuda Elkana, András Szigeti, György Lissauer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-6155053412 (hardbound)
1. Merton, Robert King, 1910-2003. 2. Sociology--United States--History.
I. Elkana, Yehuda, 1934- II. Szigeti, András. III. Lissauer, György. IV. Title.
HM477.U6C66 2011
301.092--dc23
2011028616
Printed in Hungary by Akaprint Kft., Budapest
consept 0:Whats minta 1 7/21/11 3:07 PM Page v
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations and Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Book Concept and PrefaceYehuda Elkana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Note to Sound and Sculpture Amos Elkana and Alexander
Polzin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. The Paradoxes of Robert K. Merton: Fragmentary
Reflections Arnold Thackray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2. Looking for Shoulders to Stand on, or for a Paradigm for
the Sociology of Science Anna Wessely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3. R. K. Merton in France: Foucault, Bourdieu, Latour and
the Invention of Mainstream Sociology in Paris
Jean-Louis Fabiani . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4. Merton in South Asia: The Question of Religion and
the Modernity of Science Dhruv Raina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5. The Contribution of Robert K. Merton’s Key Concepts to
the Analysis of Gender Differentiation in Society Cynthia
Fuchs Epstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
6. A Tribute to Robert Merton: Protestant and Catholic Ethics
Revisited Rivka Feldhay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
7. The Concept of Ambivalence in the Relationship between
Science and Society Helga Nowotny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
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vi Concepts and the Social Order
8. Re-evaluating the Place of Science in Evaluating Modernity
Gabriel Motzkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
9. Democracy and the Normative Structure of Science after
Modernity Yaron Ezrahi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
10. The Matthew Effect Writ Large and Larger: A Study
in Sociological Semantics Harriet Zuckerman . . . . . . . . 121
11. Repetition with Variation: A Mertonian Inquiry into
a Lost Mertonian Concept Charles Camic . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
12. Robert K. Merton and the Tansformation of Sociology
of Knowledge and Possible New Directions Shmuel Noah
Eisenstadt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
List of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
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List of Illustrations and Tables
Illustrations
(Illustrations have been provided by Arnold Thackray
to accompany Chapter 1)
1. Robert K. Merton circa 1970, Courtesy of Harriet Zuckerman.
Robert K. Merton Papers; Box 348, Folder 6; Rare Book and
Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library, New York,
New York. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2. Children on a street nearby Merton’s childhood home, circa
1918. Temple University Libraries, Urban Archives,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3. Meyer Schkolnick dressed like Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Courtesy of Harriet Zuckerman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4. Merton’s neighborhood. By permission of Bill Marsh . . . 16
5. Bob’s business card as a magician. Courtesy of Harriet
Zuckerman. Robert K. Merton Papers; Box 314, Folder 12;
Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Library, New York, New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6. Merton as a Harvard University graduate student clad in
white linen suit. Courtesy of Harriet Zuckerman . . . . . . . . 17
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viii List of Illustrations and Tables
Tables
(The tables listed below accompany Chapter 10.)
1 Number of Citations to “The Matthew Effect in Science”
Science, 199; 3810, 1968: 55-63 in Thomson Reuters
Web of Science. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
2 Number of Google Results: Selected Mertonian
Terms-and-Concepts, December 27, 2009. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
3 Number of Google Results: Selected Terms-and-
Concepts associated with Talcott Parsons and Pierre
Bourdieu, February 7, 2010. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
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Book Concept and Preface
In June 2008, the 38th World Congress of the International Institute of
Sociology was held in Budapest at Central European University. Dur-
ing the conference, very many high-level lectures were imbued with
ideas that originate in the work of Robert K. Merton, yet Merton’s
name was seldom mentioned. I considered this phenomenon a case of
“obliteration by incorporation” (OBI), and was looking for ways to
counteract this, probably, inevitable trend. In the meantime I learned
that Craig Calhoun is editing a very impressive volume of essays about
the work of Merton, as is also Peter Hedström in Oxford.
Together with Craig Calhoun, Harriet Zuckerman, Helga Nowotny
and Björn Wittrock, we decided to orchestrate a book, dedicated to
the work of Robert K. Merton. Instead of choosing a restricting focus
from among the many areas of the Mertonian oeuvre, like Sociologi-
cal Theory, Sociology of Science, Sociology of Knowledge, Intellectu-
al History and more, we thought of asking contributors to write about
an idea or concept which influenced their work, but one that in addi-
tion to the personal, also points to future importance in the way Soci-
ology in general is moving.
Harriet Zuckerman, in her paper in this volume, has convincingly
shown what we observed may have been a purely local and incidental
occurrence, and that actually Merton’s name is mentioned very often,
and his work much cited, in the case of the Matthew effect, but also in
general. This may have disproved our generalization, but the results
were surely worthwhile and intellectually rewarding. Reading through
the whole volume in one go now, I feel very gratified and happy with
the outcome.
The usual task of the Preface might have been to mention other
important publications dedicated to the Mertonian oeuvre in the past
thirty years, the last being Craig Calhoun (ed) “Robert K. Merton:
Sociology of Science and Sociology as Science” Columbia UP 2010,