# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/robert-k-merton
# Generated: 2026-09-01T05:03:51.462Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/robert-k-merton"
name: "Robert K. Merton"
slug: "robert-k-merton"
description: "He gave us \"self-fulfilling prophecy\" and \"role model\" — phrases so embedded in how we think that most people have no idea they came from a single sociologist. Merton built the vocabulary for understanding how expectations shape reality and how we measure ourselves against others."
tagline: "American sociologist (1910–2003)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Robert_K._Merton_(1965).jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1910-07-04"
deathDate: "2003-02-23"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           58.23
  momentum:             15.14064697609001
  historical:           24.345672
  currentAttention:     7.252310628892907
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "RISING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Academics"
    slug: "academics"
  - name: "Academic"
    slug: "academic"
  - name: "United States"
    slug: "united-states"
  - name: "Americas"
    slug: "americas"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q312843"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Robert%20K.%20Merton"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_King_Merton"
    title: "Robert King Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kinq_Merton"
    title: "Robert Kinq Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%9F_%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%82_%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%9F%E0%A6%A8"
    title: "রবার্ট কিং মের্টন"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_King_Merton"
    title: "Robert King Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Robert K. Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Robert K. Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Robert K. Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Robert K. Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_King_Merton"
    title: "Robert King Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Merton"
    title: "Robert Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Robert K. Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AA_%DA%A9%DB%8C._%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AA%D9%86"
    title: "رابرت کی. مرتن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Robert K. Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_King_Merton"
    title: "Robert King Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_King_Merton"
    title: "Robert King Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Robert K. Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%98_%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%92_%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%98%D7%95%D7%9F"
    title: "רוברט קינג מרטון"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Robert K. Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Robert K. Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%8C%D5%B8%D5%A2%D5%A5%D6%80%D5%BF_%D5%94%D5%AB%D5%B6%D5%A3_%D5%84%D5%A5%D6%80%D5%BF%D5%B8%D5%B6"
    title: "Ռոբերտ Քինգ Մերտոն"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_King_Merton"
    title: "Robert King Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Robert K. Merton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_King_Merton"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://eo.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_King_Merton"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_K._Merton"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AA_%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%87_%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86"
    title: "روبرت كيه ميرتون"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born Meyer Robert Schkolnick on July 4, 1910, he became Robert K. Merton and spent most of his career at Columbia University, rising to University Professor. He served as the 47th president of the American Sociological Association and in 1994 received the National Medal of Science for founding the sociology of science. His work spanned three domains: the sociology of science, crime and deviance, and sociological theory itself. He introduced "unintended consequences," "reference group," and "role strain" into the field's lexicon, but two concepts broke containment: "role model," which emerged from his study of medical students and grew from his theory that people hold not one role but a status set with multiple expected behaviors, and "self-fulfilling prophecy," the process by which a false belief triggers behavior that makes the belief come true. He died February 23, 2003, having given sociology its most portable ideas.