b. July 5, 1910, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.

American sociologist whose diverse interests included the sociology of science and the professions, sociological theory, and mass communication.

After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1936, Merton joined the Harvard faculty, where he developed a theory of deviant behaviour based on different types of social adaptation. He served on the faculty of Tulane University, New Orleans (1939-41), and then accepted an appointment at Columbia University (1941), becoming a full professor in 1947 and being named Giddings professor in 1963. He served as associate director of the university's Bureau of Applied Social Research (1942-71), working with Paul Lazarsfeld, who arrived a year earlier than Merton and headed the new bureau. Lazarsfeld's logic of concept clarification and his methodology of quantitative and qualitative research influenced Merton's orientation to historical studies, and Merton's gift for theory influenced Lazarsfeld's philosophic grasp of the discipline of sociology. They produced important research and writing on methods of improving standards of training for the social sciences.

In Social Theory and Social Structure (1949; rev. ed. 1968), Merton defined the interrelationship between social theory and empirical research, advancing a structural-functional approach to the study of society and creating the concepts of manifest and latent function and dysfunction. In the sociology of science, he studied the relationship between Puritan thought and the rise of science, writing Science, Technology and Society in Seventeenth Century England (1938; reprinted 1970) and The Sociology of Science (1973). Other works include Mass Persuasion (1946; reprinted 1971), On the Shoulders of Giants (1965), On Theoretical Sociology (1967), Social Theory and Functional Analysis (1969), and Social Ambivalence and other Essays (1976). He edited Qualitative and Quantitative Social Research (1979), containing papers in honour of Paul Lazarsfeld, and Sociological Traditions from Generation to Generation (1980). Merton and Lazarsfeld formed a brilliant team at Columbia University (1941-76) and inspired many students.