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Robert Merton is famous for his achievements in a number of branches of the economy; Most of all, however, he is known for his research on control and risk assessment. Merton actively applies his skills in practice; alas, even such a talented scientist is not able to protect himself from all possible risks, as the history of 1998 clearly showed.

Robert Cox Merton is an American economist, professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Nobel laureate.

Robert Merton was born in New York City, in the family of sociologist Robert K. Merton and his wife Suzanne Carhart. Merton received a bachelor's degree in engineering mathematics from Columbia University, a master's degree from the California Institute of Technology, and wrote a dissertation in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the supervision of Paul Anthony Samuelson. Merton later became a lecturer at the management school; He worked here until 1988. Subsequently, Robert Merton moved to Harvard, where he received a professorship; he taught the secrets of business management to students from 1988 to 1998.

On July 11, 2010, it was officially announced that Merton was leaving Harvard and returning to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Merton received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1997 for his development of the Black-Scholes-Merton formula.

Merton's research focused on various

th aspects of financial theory; The scientist worked on issues of the life cycle of financial systems, optimal intertemporal portfolio selection, capital asset problems, principles of option pricing, risky corporate debt obligations, loan guarantees and many other issues.

Robert actively writes articles and works on the principles of the existence, functioning and control of various types of financial institutions. In this area, Merton studies financial innovation, the dynamics of reform and transformation of financial institutions, controlling the spread of serious financial risks, and advanced techniques for measuring and controlling the risks associated with lending to foreign governments.

Merton's works are not only theoretical in nature - the scientist more than once used his own developments in practice.

In 1993, Robert received the first Financial Engineer of the Year Award from the International Association of Financial Engineers; Robert is still a member of this association as a senior member to this day. Derivatives Strategy magazine named its local Hall of Fame after Merton; interesting, do the same thing

and representatives of the magazine "Risk". For his contributions to risk management theory, Robert Merton received Risk's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Since 1968, Robert Merton has also been involved in hedge funds. At the time he was working under Paul Samuelson; It was Samuelson who brought him to the board of Arbitrage Management Company, the first officially known company that decided to use computer technology in arbitration operations. For some time the company flourished as a private hedge fund, after which it was sold to Stuart & Co in 1971.

In 1993, Robert Merton co-founded the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management. For some time this fund brought extremely solid profits; in 1998, however, the fund lost $4.6 billion. The company was never able to recover from the blow it received; already at the beginning of 2000 it closed.

In 1966, Robert Merton married June Rose; in 1996 they divorced. Over 30 years of marriage, June and Robert had three children - two sons and a daughter.

For some time, Merton headed the American Financial Association. It is known that he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Robert King Merton(English Robert King Merton; born Meyer R. Schkolnick; July 4, 1910, Philadelphia - February 23, 2003, New York) - one of the most famous American sociologists of the twentieth century. He spent most of his career teaching at Columbia University, where he achieved the rank of university professor. Father of Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Merton.

Biography

Meer Robert Shkolnik was born in Philadelphia, the son of Jewish Russian immigrants Aaron Shkolnikov (later Harry Shkolnik) and Ida Rasovskaya, who arrived in the United States in 1904. The family spoke Yiddish. Harry Shkolnik was a tailor, then opened a dairy store in the south part of Philadelphia, and after it burned down, he worked as a carpenter's assistant.

In his youth, Meyer Shkolnik became interested in magic tricks and considered a career as an illusionist. To this end, he decided to change his name to eliminate associations with his immigrant origins, and eventually settled on the version of "Robert Merton", taking as his main name his middle name in honor of the French illusionist Robert-Houdin.

He was educated at Temple (1927-1931) and Harvard (1931-1936) universities. He was brought into sociology by George E. Simpson, who had Merton as a student and assistant, and who introduced him to Ralph Bunche and Franklin Fraser, as well as Pitirim Sorokin, head of the sociology department at Harvard University. At Harvard, Robert K. Merton defended his doctoral dissertation and began teaching. There is a popular misconception that Robert K. Merton was one of Talcott Parsons' students. When Robert K. Merton defended his Ph.D. thesis, T. Parsons was only a junior member of the dissertation committee, along with Pitirim Sorokin, Carl Zimmerman and George Sarton. The dissertation on "A Quantitative Social History of the Development of Science in Seventeenth-Century England" was a reflection of this interdisciplinary committee (Merton, 1985).

In 1957, Merton was elected president of the American Sociological Association. Merton is the author of more than 10 books. The same number were published under his editorship. Merton died in 2003.

Sociology of science

“Merton forms the foundations of the sociological analysis of science as a special social institution with its inherent value-normative regulations”

The goal (main task) of science, from Merton’s point of view, is the constant growth of the body of certified scientific knowledge. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to follow the four main imperatives of the scientific ethos: universalism (the impersonal nature of scientific knowledge), collectivism (communicating discoveries to other scientists freely and without preference), disinterestedness (building scientific activity as if there were no interests other than comprehending the truth) and organized skepticism (excluding uncritical acceptance of research results).

According to Merton, the functional meaning of these imperatives confronts each scientist with the following set of alternatives:

• transfer your scientific results to colleagues as quickly as possible, but do not rush into publications
• be receptive to new ideas without being swayed by intellectual fashion
• strive to obtain knowledge that will be highly appreciated by colleagues, but work without paying attention to the evaluation of the results of their research
• advocate new ideas, but do not support sweeping conclusions
• make every effort to know the work related to his field, but at the same time remember that erudition sometimes inhibits creativity
• be careful in wording and details, but not be a pedant
• always remember that knowledge is universal, but do not forget that every scientific discovery brings honor to the nation whose representative it was made
• educate a new generation of scientists, but do not devote too much time to teaching
• learn from a great master and imitate him, but not be like him

Biography

Meer Robert Shkolnik was born in Philadelphia, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants Aaron Shkolnikov (later Harry Shkolnik) and Ida Rasovskaya, who arrived in the United States in 1904. The family spoke Yiddish. Harry Shkolnik was a tailor, then opened a dairy store in the south part of Philadelphia, and after it burned down, he worked as a carpenter's assistant.

In his youth, Meyer Shkolnik became interested in magic tricks and considered a career as an illusionist. To this end, he decided to change his name to eliminate associations with his immigrant origins, and eventually settled on the version of "Robert Merton", taking as his main middle name in honor of the French illusionist Robert-Houdin.

Sociology of science

“Merton forms the foundations of the sociological analysis of science as a special social institution with its inherent value-normative regulations”

The goal (main task) of science, from Merton’s point of view, is the constant growth of the body of certified scientific knowledge. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to follow four basic imperatives of the scientific ethos: universalism(impersonal nature of scientific knowledge), collectivism(communication of discoveries to other scientists freely and without preference), unselfishness(arranging scientific activity as if there were no interests other than comprehending the truth) and organized skepticism(excluding uncritical acceptance of research results).

According to Merton, the functional meaning of these imperatives confronts each scientist with the following set of alternatives:

Structural functionalism

Robert Merton is considered one of the classics of structural functionalism. With the help of this paradigm, he substantiated specific theories - social structure and anomie, science, bureaucracy. This paradigm focuses on middle-range theory.

The main concepts of Merton's theory of structural functionalism are “function” and “dysfunction”. Functions - according to Merton, those observable consequences that serve the self-regulation of a given system or its adaptation to the environment, as well as the correspondence of expectations to consequences. Dysfunctions are those observable consequences that weaken the self-regulation of a given system or its adaptation to the environment.

Three postulates that R. Merton considered “controversial and unnecessary for functional theory”:

• functional unity;
• functional versatility;
• functional obligation (coercion).

Robert Merton acted as a successor to E. Durkheim, significantly expanding his concept of social anomie.

A great influence on the views of R. Merton was exerted by Pitirim Sorokin, who tried to fill sociological theorizing with materials from empirical and statistical research, and Paul Felix Lazarsfeld, who developed the problems of methodology for the application of social and empirical sciences in sociological research.

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Notes

Works in Russian

• Merton R.K.// THESIS. - 1993. - Issue. 3. - pp. 256-276.
• Merton R.K. Fragments from memories // Sociological studies. - 1992. - No. 10. - P. 128-133.
• Merton R.K. Social theory and social structure // Sociological studies. - 1992. - No. 2-4. – pp. 118-124.
• Sorokin P. A., Merton R. K.// Sociological research. - 2004. - No. 6. - P. 112-119.
• Merton R.K.// Sociology of crime (Modern bourgeois theories). - M.: Progress, 1966. - pp. 299-313.
• Merton R.K. Explicit and latent functions // American sociological thought / Ed. V. I. Dobrenkova. - M., 1996.
• Merton R.K. Social theory and social structure. - M.: AST:AST MOSCOW: KHRANITEL, 2006. - 873 p.

Works in English

• Social Theory and Social Structure (1949)
• The Sociology of Science (1973)
• Sociological Ambivalence (1976)
• On the Shoulders of Giants: A Tristram Shandy Postscript (1985)
• The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science (2004)

Literature

• Giddens E. Robert Merton on structural analysis // Social Sciences and Humanities.
• Pokrovsky N. E. (PDF)// Sociological research. - 1992. - No. 2.
• Pokrovsky N. E. (PDF)// Sociological research. - 1992.
• Sztompka, P. Robert Merton: dynamic functionalism // Contemporary American Sociology / Ed. V. I. Dobrenkova. - M., 1994. - P. 78-93.

see also

A passage characterizing Merton, Robert King

“If there were reasons...” she began. But Natasha, guessing her doubt, interrupted her in fear.
- Sonya, you can’t doubt him, you can’t, you can’t, do you understand? – she shouted.
– Does he love you?
- Does he love you? – Natasha repeated with a smile of regret about her friend’s lack of understanding. – You read the letter, did you see it?
- But what if he is an ignoble person?
– Is he!... an ignoble person? If only you knew! - Natasha said.
“If he is a noble man, then he must either declare his intention or stop seeing you; and if you don’t want to do this, then I will do it, I will write to him, I will tell dad,” Sonya said decisively.
- Yes, I can’t live without him! – Natasha screamed.
- Natasha, I don’t understand you. And what are you saying! Remember your father, Nicolas.
“I don’t need anyone, I don’t love anyone but him.” How dare you say that he is ignoble? Don't you know that I love him? – Natasha shouted. “Sonya, go away, I don’t want to quarrel with you, go away, for God’s sake go away: you see how I’m suffering,” Natasha shouted angrily in a restrained, irritated and desperate voice. Sonya burst into tears and ran out of the room.
Natasha went to the table and, without thinking for a minute, wrote that answer to Princess Marya, which she could not write the whole morning. In this letter, she briefly wrote to Princess Marya that all their misunderstandings were over, that, taking advantage of the generosity of Prince Andrei, who, when leaving, gave her freedom, she asks her to forget everything and forgive her if she is guilty before her, but that she cannot be his wife . It all seemed so easy, simple and clear to her at that moment.

On Friday the Rostovs were supposed to go to the village, and on Wednesday the count went with the buyer to his village near Moscow.
On the day of the count's departure, Sonya and Natasha were invited to a big dinner with the Karagins, and Marya Dmitrievna took them. At this dinner, Natasha again met with Anatole, and Sonya noticed that Natasha was saying something to him, wanting not to be heard, and throughout the dinner she was even more excited than before. When they returned home, Natasha was the first to begin with Sonya the explanation that her friend was waiting for.
“You, Sonya, said all sorts of stupid things about him,” Natasha began in a meek voice, the voice that children use when they want to be praised. - We explained it to him today.
- Well, what, what? Well, what did he say? Natasha, how glad I am that you are not angry with me. Tell me everything, the whole truth. What did he say?
Natasha thought about it.
- Oh Sonya, if only you knew him like I do! He said... He asked me about how I promised Bolkonsky. He was glad that it was up to me to refuse him.
Sonya sighed sadly.
“But you didn’t refuse Bolkonsky,” she said.
- Or maybe I refused! Maybe it's all over with Bolkonsky. Why do you think so badly of me?
- I don’t think anything, I just don’t understand it...
- Wait, Sonya, you will understand everything. You will see what kind of person he is. Don't think bad things about me or him.
– I don’t think anything bad about anyone: I love everyone and feel sorry for everyone. But what should I do?
Sonya did not give in to the gentle tone with which Natasha addressed her. The softer and more searching the expression on Natasha’s face was, the more serious and stern Sonya’s face was.
“Natasha,” she said, “you asked me not to talk to you, I didn’t, now you started it yourself.” Natasha, I don't believe him. Why this secret?
- Again, again! – Natasha interrupted.
– Natasha, I’m afraid for you.
- What to be afraid of?
“I’m afraid that you will destroy yourself,” Sonya said decisively, herself frightened by what she said.
Natasha's face again expressed anger.
“And I will destroy, I will destroy, I will destroy myself as quickly as possible.” None of your business. It will feel bad not for you, but for me. Leave me, leave me. I hate you.
- Natasha! – Sonya cried out in fear.
- I hate it, I hate it! And you are my enemy forever!
Natasha ran out of the room.
Natasha no longer spoke to Sonya and avoided her. With the same expression of excited surprise and criminality, she walked around the rooms, taking up first this or that activity and immediately abandoning them.
No matter how hard it was for Sonya, she kept an eye on her friend.
On the eve of the day on which the count was supposed to return, Sonya noticed that Natasha had been sitting all morning at the living room window, as if expecting something, and that she made some kind of sign to a passing military man, whom Sonya mistook for Anatole.
Sonya began to observe her friend even more carefully and noticed that Natasha was in a strange and unnatural state all the time during lunch and evening (she answered questions asked to her at random, started and did not finish sentences, laughed at everything).
After tea, Sonya saw a timid girl's maid waiting for her at Natasha's door. She let her through and, listening at the door, learned that a letter had been delivered again. And suddenly it became clear to Sonya that Natasha had some terrible plan for this evening. Sonya knocked on her door. Natasha didn't let her in.
“She'll run away with him! thought Sonya. She is capable of anything. Today there was something especially pitiful and determined in her face. She cried, saying goodbye to her uncle, Sonya recalled. Yes, it’s true, she’s running with him, but what should I do?” thought Sonya, now recalling those signs that clearly proved why Natasha had some terrible intention. “There is no count. What should I do, write to Kuragin, demanding an explanation from him? But who tells him to answer? Write to Pierre, as Prince Andrei asked, in case of an accident?... But maybe, in fact, she has already refused Bolkonsky (she sent a letter to Princess Marya yesterday). There’s no uncle!” It seemed terrible to Sonya to tell Marya Dmitrievna, who believed so much in Natasha. “But one way or another,” Sonya thought, standing in the dark corridor: now or never the time has come to prove that I remember the benefits of their family and love Nicolas. No, even if I don’t sleep for three nights, I won’t leave this corridor and forcefully let her in, and I won’t let shame fall on their family,” she thought.

Anatole recently moved in with Dolokhov. The plan to kidnap Rostova had been thought out and prepared by Dolokhov for several days, and on the day when Sonya, having overheard Natasha at the door, decided to protect her, this plan had to be carried out. Natasha promised to go out to Kuragin’s back porch at ten o’clock in the evening. Kuragin had to put her in a prepared troika and take her 60 versts from Moscow to the village of Kamenka, where a disrobed priest was prepared who was supposed to marry them. In Kamenka, a setup was ready that was supposed to take them to the Warsaw road and there they were supposed to ride abroad on postal ones.
Anatole had a passport, and a travel document, and ten thousand money taken from his sister, and ten thousand borrowed through Dolokhov.
Two witnesses - Khvostikov, a former clerk, whom Dolokhov used for games, and Makarin, a retired hussar, a good-natured and weak man who had boundless love for Kuragin - were sitting in the first room having tea.
In Dolokhov’s large office, decorated from walls to ceiling with Persian carpets, bear skins and weapons, Dolokhov sat in a traveling beshmet and boots in front of an open bureau on which lay abacus and stacks of money. Anatole, in an unbuttoned uniform, walked from the room where the witnesses were sitting, through the office into the back room, where his French footman and others were packing the last things. Dolokhov counted the money and wrote it down.
“Well,” he said, “Khvostikov needs to be given two thousand.”
“Well, give it to me,” said Anatole.
– Makarka (that’s what they called Makarina), this one will selflessly go through fire and water for you. Well, the score is over,” said Dolokhov, showing him the note. - So?
“Yes, of course, so,” said Anatole, apparently not listening to Dolokhov and with a smile that never left his face, looking ahead of him.
Dolokhov slammed the bureau and turned to Anatoly with a mocking smile.
– You know what, give it all up: there’s still time! - he said.
- Fool! - said Anatole. - Stop talking nonsense. If only you knew... The devil knows what it is!
“Come on,” said Dolokhov. - I'm telling you the truth. Is this a joke you're starting?
- Well, again, teasing again? Go to hell! Eh?...” Anatole said with a wince. - Really, I have no time for your stupid jokes. - And he left the room.
Dolokhov smiled contemptuously and condescendingly when Anatole left.
“Wait,” he said after Anatoly, “I’m not joking, I mean business, come, come here.”
Anatole entered the room again and, trying to concentrate his attention, looked at Dolokhov, obviously involuntarily submitting to him.

Robert Merton - contributions to sociology

Merton Robert King (07/05/1910, Philadelphia - 2003 NY) - American sociologist, professor emeritus at Columbia University, president of the American Sociological Association (1957). Author, co-author and editor of more than 200 scientific articles. He made a significant contribution to the development and formation of a number of main areas of academic sociology: the theory and methodology of structural functionalism, sociology of science, the study of social structure, bureaucracy, social disorganization, etc. Acting as a successor to the classical tradition of bourgeois sociology (M. Weber, Durkheim), Merton, regardless of his teachers Sorokin and Parsons, who did a lot to popularize European theoretical sociology in the United States, is looking for an independent way to connect it with the standard of empirical research established in the United States.

The first work of this kind was the monograph “Science, technology and society of England in the 17th century,” written in 1938, which was of a historical and sociological nature. Based on M. Weber's idea about the decisive role of religions. values ​​in European development. capitalism and science, Merton showed that the main. values ​​dominant in England in the 17th century. Puritan religious morality (utility, rationalism, individualism, etc.) had a stimulating effect on the scientific discoveries of prominent English scientists of that era. Developing these ideas in subsequent works, Merton formulates the foundations of a sociological analysis of science as a special social institution with its inherent value-normative regulations.

This set of values ​​and norms, obligatory for science, includes four fundamental “institutional imperatives”: “universalism”, “community”, “disinterestedness” and “organized skepticism”. Merton's approach stimulated a large number of studies in the field of sociology of science, playing an important role in its formation as an independent field of study. During the 40s. Merton is actively engaged in applied social research in the field of mass communication, interpersonal relations, sociology of medicine, etc. Merton's activities as co-director (with Lazarsfeld) of the Bureau of Applied Research at Columbia University greatly contributed to the growth of the authority of empirical sociology, embodying the unity of theory and method ` within the framework of American sociology.

What brought Merton great popularity was the program of creating middle-range theories, which he put forward in 1948, as opposed to the strategy of building a “comprehensive theory” of structural functionalism promoted by Parsons. The “paradigm” of functional analysis created by Merton at that time (a paradigm is a system of ideas, views, concepts in a scientific society in a certain historical period, which during this period is the main methodological basis for the entire world community), concentrating in itself a system of concepts and principles of this approach was precisely supposed to serve as a methodological basis for the formation of middle-level theories. Unlike Parsons, who focused on basic attention to the analysis of the mechanisms for maintaining “social order,” Merton focused his efforts on the study of dysfunctional phenomena that arise as a result of tensions and contradictions in the social structure. An example of this approach is the work “Social structure and anomie” (anomie is a state of society characterized by the disintegration of norms governing social interactions and individual behavior. This concept was introduced into sociology by E. Durkheim), in which the differences are analyzed. types of behavioral reactions to deformations and tensions of the social structure: 'conformism', 'innovation', 'ritualism', 'retreatism', 'rebellion'.

In the 50s and 60s. under the leadership and with the direct participation of Merton, a number of major research projects are being carried out in the field of sociology of science, the study of mass communications, social stratification, bureaucracy, sociology of professions, sociology of medicine, social problems, etc. aspects of theory and methodology. In recent years, Merton, along with older generation sociologists Coser, Blau, and others, has been making an attempt to revive the methodology of structuralism, from the standpoint of which he seeks to comprehend the current state of Western society. sociology.

Born in Philadelphia, into a family of working-class Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. He was educated at Temple (1927-1931) and Harvard (1931-1936) universities. There, at Harvard, he defended his doctoral dissertation and began teaching. There is a popular misconception that Robert K. Merton was one of Talcott Parsons' students. When Robert K. Merton defended his Ph.D. thesis, T. Parsons was only a junior member of the dissertation committee, along with Pitirim Sorokin, Carl Zimmerman and George Sarton. The dissertation on "A Quantitative Social History of the Development of Science in Seventeenth-Century England" was a reflection of this interdisciplinary committee (Merton, 1985).

In 1957, Merton was elected president of the American Sociological Association. Merton is the author of more than 10 books. The same number were published under his editorship. Merton died in 2003.

Sociology of science

“Merton forms the foundations of the sociological analysis of science as a special social institution with its inherent value-normative regulations”
The goal (main task) of science, from Merton’s point of view, is the constant growth of the body of certified scientific knowledge. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to follow the four main imperatives of the scientific ethos: universalism (the impersonal nature of scientific knowledge), collectivism (communicating discoveries to other scientists freely and without preference), disinterestedness (building scientific activity as if there were no interests other than comprehending the truth) and organized skepticism (excluding uncritical acceptance of research results).

According to Merton, the functional meaning of these imperatives confronts each scientist with the following set of alternatives:

• transfer your scientific results to colleagues as quickly as possible, but do not rush into publications
• be receptive to new ideas without being swayed by intellectual fashion
• strive to obtain knowledge that will be highly appreciated by colleagues, but work without paying attention to the evaluation of the results of their research
• advocate new ideas, but do not support sweeping conclusions
• make every effort to know the work related to his field, but at the same time remember that erudition sometimes inhibits creativity
• be careful in wording and details, but not be a pedant
• always remember that knowledge is universal, but do not forget that every scientific discovery brings honor to the nation whose representative it was made
• educate a new generation of scientists, but do not devote too much time to teaching
• learn from a great master and imitate him, but not be like him

Structural functionalism

Robert Merton is considered one of the classics of structural functionalism. With the help of this paradigm, he substantiated specific theories - social structure and anomie, science, bureaucracy. This paradigm focuses on middle-range theory.

The main concepts of Merton's theory of structural functionalism are “function” and “dysfunction”. Functions - according to Merton, those observable consequences that serve the self-regulation of a given system or its adaptation to the environment. Dysfunctions are those observable consequences that weaken the self-regulation of a given system or its adaptation to the environment.

Three postulates that R. Merton considered “controversial and unnecessary for functional theory”:

• functional unity;
• functional versatility;
• functional obligation (coercion).

Robert Merton acted as a successor to E. Durkheim, significantly expanding his concept of social anomie.

A great influence on the views of R. Merton was exerted by Pitirim Sorokin, who tried to fill sociological theorizing with materials from empirical and statistical research, and Paul Felix Lazarsfeld, who developed the problems of methodology for applying social and empirical sciences in sociological research.