ABSTRACT
Reference group theory and research continue to flourish, as does Robert K. Merton. In the face of the continuing stimuli, the discontinuity in the study of reference individuals seems a mystery. Merton may have solved it. The results of the Gallup poll's annual "Admiration Derby," in which the notabilities of the world have been raced every Christmas since 1946 to see who wins the admiration of the public, provide nourishment for a theory of reference idols that can be extracted by secondary analysis. This is an efficient strategy for adding to the theory, and it is symbolically appropriate to the occasion. There is, however, one other kind of figure revealed as a major normative point of reference for Americans. John Reed, in contrast with Mueller, also examined the choice of female reference individuals and idols, exploiting the data from the corresponding question Gallup had asked in the annual surveys.
