La sociologia di Merton: indeterminatezza dell’azione e delle strutture

In the paper I claim that the philosophical and scientific idea of indeterminacy is a leading – and not always explicit – theme of the thought of Merton. Some of the main contributions of Merton to sociology (his reflections on the concepts of unintended consequences of purposive social action, self...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/qds,
Autor Principal: Martire, Fabrizio
Formato: Article ou chapitre numérique
Idioma:Italien
Publicado: Quaderni di Sociologia 2016
Acceso en liña:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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Résumé:In the paper I claim that the philosophical and scientific idea of indeterminacy is a leading – and not always explicit – theme of the thought of Merton. Some of the main contributions of Merton to sociology (his reflections on the concepts of unintended consequences of purposive social action, self-fulfilling prophecy, latent function, sociological ambivalence and serendipity; his definition and analysis of anomie) draw attention on several kinds of indeterminacy: that of intents in causing consequences; that of social conditions on behaviour; that of real world to scientific theory. In the last part of the paper I argue that the non-determinism of the thought of Merton has relevant implications at a meta-theoretical level, directing him to the construction / definition of concepts rather than of general theories about society.