Catching up with Robert Merton

Abstract

Sociologists of science today take it for granted that science is a collective activity in a profound sense, and it was above all Robert Merton who established this at a time when a misconceived individualistic perspective was generally used to address it. Current work on science, whether as institution, normative order, moral community, sub-culture, set of peers or status group, is indebted to Merton's account of the norms of science, or else to his analysis of the system of honorific reward through which the norms are sustained. This paper concentrates on the second topic. How is normative order sustained in the sciences? It will reinforce Merton's original insight that no explanation of this is possible in terms of individual calculative action; show how Merton's alternative sociological approach can be linked to traditional sociological thought and particularly to Weber's account of status groups; and show also how more recent sociological work relates to Merton's now that his work has become a recognized resource in that same tradition.