Merton's `Norms' in Political and Intellectual Context

Turner, Stephen

doi:10.1177/1468795x07078034

Cited by 27 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Robert K. Merton was a sociologist whose basic sympathies intellectually were on the left, and who began his career as a book review editor for Isis , whose specific task was chronicling the left-wing scientists’ movement of the 1930s, and who endorsed, at least in the early 1940s, their main idea that science could come to full fruition only in a post-capitalist society (cf. Turner, 2007b). He wrote repeated recommendation letters for Karl Polanyi, praising The Great Transformation (2001 [1944]).…”

Section: The Leftmentioning

confidence: 99%

De-intellectualizing American sociology

Turner

2012

Journal of Sociology

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Sociology once debated 'the social' and did so with a public readership. Even as late as the Second World War, sociologists commanded a wide public on questions about the nature of society, altruism and the direction of social evolution. As a result of several waves of professionalization, however, these issues have vanished from academic sociology and from the public writings of sociologists. From the 1960s onwards sociologists instead wrote for the public by supporting social movements. Discussion within sociology became constrained both by 'professional' expectations and political taboos. Yet the original motivating concerns of sociology and its public, such as the compatibility of socialism and Darwinism, the nature of society, and the process of social evolution, did not cease to be of public interest. With sociologists showing little interest in satisfying the demand, it was met by non-sociologists, with the result that sociology lost both its intellectual public, as distinct from affinity groups, and its claim on these topics.

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Section: The Leftmentioning

confidence: 99%

De-intellectualizing American sociology

Turner

2012

Journal of Sociology

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“…Speaking metaphorically, norms are the channels through which human action flows in Merton’s account, but, in my account, it is the goal or aim of science that provides the motive force behind the carving out of the channels in the first place. It may be the case that Merton’s desire for originality, noted in Stephen Turner’s recent work (2007: 169), led him to under-specify the Weberian basis of his thought in this regard, which in my view comes at the expense of emphasizing what is prior. Merton’s specification of the norms of science does constitute an analytically potent step toward understanding science, but it is the understanding of the goal or aim accorded value (that is, the ‘maxim’ determined in the act of analysis or the guiding ‘internal presuppositions’, as discussed above) that helps to make sense of these norms and, therefore, of the significance of science’s methods and content: that is to say that values, mores, methods, and content are secondary phenomena from the standpoint being advanced here and thus stand in need of explanation.…”

Section: Organizing Principles: Social Science As a ‘Patterned Activity’mentioning

confidence: 91%

This is social science: A ‘patterned activity’ oriented to attaining objective knowledge of human society

Malczewski

2013

Journal of Classical Sociology

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The aim of this article is to demonstrate that approaching social science as a ‘patterned activity’ draws attention both to the distinctive nature of social science and to its central subject matter – meaningful (symbolically oriented) behavior and theoretical entities based on it – enabling therefore a constructive perspective on the major debate regarding social science’s organizing principles. A patterned activity is defined as a cluster of behavior oriented to a basic (that is, characteristic or defining) goal or aim accorded value; the goal or aim, by which the norms of the patterned activity are bounded, is the satisfaction of a certain appetite, desire, or need. The concept of a patterned activity is rooted in and developed from elements of Max Weber’s methodological writings. This concept is evaluated against Clifford Geertz’s ‘cultural systems’ approach and Robert K. Merton’s view of the norms of science, and the article then addresses the legacy of Talcott Parsons more generally. Lastly, Émile Durkheim’s and Weber’s respective approaches to social science are assessed so as to illuminate their views regarding its central subject matter and to demonstrate a convergence of their views.

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“…Los principios fundamentales de este ethos científico fueron establecidos por Merton y desarrollados y criticados en debates posteriores -ver, por ejemplo, las aportaciones recientes de Barnes (2007), Huff (2007), Turner (2007)-. Merton (1977a) consideraba que los cuatro elementos que constituían el sistema de valores y normas propio de la institución científica eran el universalismo, el comunismo, el desinterés y el escepticismo organizado -más adelante incluiría también la humildad y la originalidad (1977b).…”

Section: La Vocación Científica Y El Ethos De La Cienciaunclassified

Género y vocación científica. Un estudio de caso basado en mecanismos

León

Mora

2010

Rev. int. sociol.

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ResumenA pesar de los avances hacia la igualdad, la plantilla del personal académico de las universidades españo-las continua siendo fundamentalmente masculina. De los distintos filtros que actúan impidiendo el progreso académico de las mujeres hacia categorías superiores, aquellos que tienen lugar en el periodo de solicitud y disfrute de las becas de investigación son especialmente importantes. En ese periodo tiene lugar un proceso diferencial de construcción de subjetividades para mujeres y hombres cuyo efecto principal es una elaboración diferencial de las expectativas y preferencias profesionales para el futuro. Basándonos en el análisis de 40 entrevistas (18 realizadas al personal becario y 22 al profesorado de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona) y de una encuesta online realizada a 258 becarios/as de la UAB, tratamos de identificar algunos mecanismos causales que pueden ayudarnos a explicar por qué se produce una diferencia en las probabilidades de formación de un orden de preferencias que sitúe a la actividad científica como objetivo profesional prioritario, es decir, por qué los hombres desarrollan más frecuentemente que las mujeres una vocación científica. PalabRas ClaveCarrera académica, Ethos científico, Personal becario, Sexo. abstRaCtDespite the advances towards equality, the academic staff of the Spanish universities is still predominant by masculine. From the different filters that are avoiding the academic progress of women towards superior categories, those that take place in the application and enjoyment of research grants are especially important. In that period, it is taking place a differential process of subjectivities construction for women and men, the principal effect of which is a differential elaboration of professional expectations and preferences for the future. From the analysis of 40 interviews (18 conducted with grant staff and 22 with academic staff of the Autonomous University of Barcelona), and an online survey made to 258 scholarship holders of the AUB, we try to Revista inteRnaCional de soCiología (Ris) VoL.68, nº 2, Mayo-agosto, 399-428, 2010

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Merton's `Norms' in Political and Intellectual Context

Cited by 27 publications

References 11 publications

De-intellectualizing American sociology

De-intellectualizing American sociology

This is social science: A ‘patterned activity’ oriented to attaining objective knowledge of human society

Género y vocación científica. Un estudio de caso basado en mecanismos

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