Some turning points in the early sociology of Robert King Merton

ABSTRACT Robert King Merton's early sociology of science is significant for the understating of modern sociology. The relationship between unplanned consequences and developments in science and technology is fundamental for a definition of the contemporary picture of social action developments. Theoretical interests link to the working-in-progress formulations. Empirical development emerges from these perspectives. The significance of the theoretical progression encapsulated in the American sociologist's doctoral dissertation is astounding (1938). The theory-research connection is equally significant when placed in relation to the scholarly output of the 1950s. In addition, the questions posed by Merton apply in the 1970s and 1990s sociology. They are fertile with interesting answers even today, which is a dramatically disturbed time due to the technological progress. This progress raises new ethical, political, and social questions about the future of humanity. Other sources of disorder derive from the ecological crisis that leads to a rethinking of the man-environment relationship. Merton does not address this topic. The twentieth-century totalitarianisms that have survived into the twenty-first century embed dangerously within the scientific technological development (e.g. the China case). The development of new medical-biological theories and practices impose new questions about the value attributed to life. This is of particular relevance today due to the global and devastating Covid 19 pandemic crisis.