I don't want to go through thsi again, but I have explained the differrence between functionalISM and functional EXPLANATION at several points on this and othyer lists; check the archives. As I said before, FE is not a general doctribe about the nature of society; it is a style of explanation of
Title: RE: [PEN-L:35034] Re: [Fwd: Robert K. Merton, 1910-2003]
I don't know much about the late Robert K. Merton, but wasn't he pretty conservative? (I vaguely remember an article by him and some other author about 'social stratification' which was almost neoclassical.)
Jim
-Original
The book I read was apolitical -- at least at my level of understanding.
On Mon, Feb 24, 2003 at 08:44:00PM -0800, Devine, James wrote:
I don't know much about the late Robert K. Merton, but wasn't he pretty
conservative? (I vaguely remember an article by him and some other author
about
Merton's output was vast, and apart from On The Shoulders of Giants I mainly know his sociology of science stuff, which is apolitical, and some of his general theory -- he was a fine theorist of functional explanation. That isn't to say he may not have said something conservative about social
Title: RE: [PEN-L:35039] Re: Re: RE: Re: [Fwd: Robert K. Merton, 1910-2003]
Merton's output was vast, and apart from On The Shoulders of Giants I mainly know his sociology of science stuff, which is apolitical, and some of his general theory -- he was a fine theorist of functional explanation
