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AFTER CERTAINTY

Person

Robert K Merton

Sociologist of unintended consequences, bureaucracy, and the normative structure of science.

Why this matters

Merton's patterns—manifest and latent function—help read how incentives reproduce behavior.

Works

article

Bureaucratic Structure and Personality.

Merton, Robert K. "Bureaucratic Structure and Personality." *Social Forces* 18, no. 4 (1940): 560–568.

article

The Normative Structure of Science.

Merton, Robert K. "The Normative Structure of Science." In *The Sociology of Science*, edited by Norman W. Storer, 267–278. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973. First published 1942.

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