ABSTRACT
Although available images of Merton’s work and its place in American and global sociology snatch at several of his major scholarly contributions and showcase some of his more evocative terms-and-concepts, much of the wider academic context of these ideas and their development is not readily accessible. The frequent packaging of his work into simplistic one-sided frames as a somewhat conservative functionalist theorist, suppresses the range and depth of his analytical work. The range of images of Merton are laid out, and the main sources where his own work and of the secondary literature can be found are outlined. The formal stages of Merton’s career are presented and the sources of information about his personal life pointed to. Given the importance of early years in shaping subsequent careers, Merton’s early life in Philadelphia is sketched. Then, to provide a platform for the rest of the book, the stages of his career and how his research themes map onto these is laid out.
