ABSTRACT
Merton’s retirement from teaching did not limit his research and writing programme, although with his increasing seniority and visibility he was more often involved in writing forewords/introductions to books, obituary or Festschrift essays and acceptance speeches when receiving honours. Much of his published writing was retrospective, recalling the development of various of his ideas. ‘Sociological semantics’ was a newly emergent framework which reached back to previous writing but cast into a broader picture.
