Merton is amongst the recent sociological theorists whose major works are on Mass persuasion, social theory and social structure, and continuities in Social research. Merton was born in Philadelphia and received his B.A. at Temple University in 1931. His M.A. and Ph.D. were taken at Harvard University (1932, 1936).
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He began his teaching career as an assistant in 1934 and became instructor in 1936. In 1939, he went to Tulane as Associate Professor and Chairman in 1940 and 1941. Since 1941, he has been on the faculty of Columbia University becoming Associate Professor in 1944 and full Professor in 1947.
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He has been associate director of the Bureau of Applied Social Research and has been President of the American Sociological Society. Merton’s initial contributions to Sociology were made in the Social Action branch of social behaviourism, most completely on the extension of Weber’s analysis of the protestant ethic to the development of rational of behaviour under the influence of the inner-worldly asceticism of Protestantism.
In his own original theorising Merton has abandoned the framework of social behaviourism for what he views as the more promising functionalistic theory. “Functional analysis is at once the most promising and possibly the least conditioned of contemporary approaches to problems of sociological interpretation.
Having developed on many intellectual fronts at the same time, it has grown in shreds and patches rather than in depth. The accomplishments of functional analysis are sufficient to suggest that its larger promise will ultimately be fulfilled”
The theory was approached by way of distinction between five different meanings of the term function, out of which Merton has retained two basic meaning of function (1) as an organic type of system (2) as the consequences of any design, aim, and purpose within an organic type of system. Merton took his own point of departure from what he called the prevailing postulates of functional analysis. He emphatically denies that functional analysis is “Ideological”.
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Although this denial is implicit in his criticism of the “postulates of functionalism” he develops his position explicitly in a “paradigm for functional Sociological analysis. In Merton’s view functional, analysis primarily applies to standardized items (such as roles, institutions, social processes, cultural items, social norms, group organization).
It distinguishes manifest function as objective consequences, utilizing two main concepts between motive and objective consequences, contributing to adjustment or adaptation of the system and latent functions as consequences which are neither untended nor recognized.
An item may be functional in a society but a given item may be functional for some units and dysfunctional for others. Functional analysis works with the assumption that there are foundational requirements of a system under observation. It also requires knowledge of mechanism through which the function operates.
Empirical Functionalism of Robert K. Merton:
Functional analysis is at once the most promising and least conditioned of contemporary orientation to the problems of sociological interpretation. Like all interpretative schemes functional analysis depends upon triple alliance between theory, method and data.
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In an essay originally published in 1949, American Sociologist Robert K. Merton attempts to refine and develop functional analysis which guides enquiry and analysis of data by setting a clear statement of consequences of these data for larger structures of theory to which they are related.
Throughout his works Merton seeks to formulate theoretically significant, empirically testable hypotheses of sociological importance. He believes that mere efficient allocation of sociological resources is represented by attention to the theories of middle range.
Middle range theory is principally used in sociology to guide empirical enquiry. It is intermediate to general theories of social systems which are too remote from particular classes of social behaviour, organization and change to account for organization and change to account for what is observed and to those detailed orderly descriptions of particulars that are not generalised at all orderly descriptions of particular that are not generalised at all.
Middle range theory involves abstractions but they are close enough to be observed data to be incorporated in propositions that permit empirical testing although the middle range theories are abstract they are also connected to the empirical world thus encouraging the research so necessary for the clarification of concept and reformulation of theoretically generalizations.
Merton concluded that without this interplay between theory and research, theoretical scheme will remains suggestive congeries of concepts, which are incapable of being refuted, while on the other hand empirical research will remain unsystematic, disjointed and of little utility in expanding a body of sociological knowledge.
Thus, by following a middle range strategy, the concepts and proposition of sociological theory will become mere tightly organized as theoretically focused empirical research forces clarification, elaboration and reformulation of the concept and propositions of each middle range theory.