ABSTRACT
During the 1930s, while Merton was in his 20s, he completed his PhD education at Harvard, began to teach and extensively publish, married and began to take overseas trips. His thesis work established the historical sociology of science by tracing the impacts of Puritan religion and of commercial and military interests on 17th-century English science and scientists. His essay on anomie set up a useful model of some of the dire consequences of the American success myth as it affected different social classes which has had a long-lasting impact on studies of deviance. And his essay on unanticipated consequences of purposive action consolidated an action framework focusing on people’s choice-making. He also developed and honed research, teaching and reviewing skills across a swathe of sites. The decade was rounded out with a two-year stint at Tulane (New Orleans).
