Robert K. Merton

between a universalist vision of science and a procrustean framework

Abstract

Robert K. Merton (1910-2003) is generally perceived as the father of the sociology of science. In our article we will present the major claims of Merton’s classical analysis of the 17th century origins of English science and the important gaps in this study. The content of Merton’s famous scientific norms will also be summarized accompanied by discussion of their alternative and contradictory meaning. Finally, we present the concept of the “Mathieu Effect” and its connections with organisational stratification in science. Our analytic perspective is built on the idea that Merton’s sociology is constructed on a procrustean “framework” whose closed logic is “inclusion” and “exclusion” of a restricted list of social values and institutions. His understanding of science is consequently very static, and as indicated above, absent of cognitive considerations.