by Robert K. Merton was an American sociologist who worked at Columbia University and was interested in the way that science fits in with broader political structures. Merton created four aspects of science known as Mertonian Norms which aim to provide structure in the field of science in order to promote integrity and in order for the field of science to advance in the most intelligent and collaborative way possible. Robert Merton, who was regarded as the father of the “sociology of science,” strongly believed that science was based on values and these values aimed to allow scientific advancements to continue with integrity. Science and broader political structures are very intertwined. For example, in Nazi Germany and in Soviet Russia under the rule of Stalin, scientists were strongly controlled by governments which hindered the advancements within the field of science as political figures were able to decide which scientific discoveries were accurate and inaccurate. Robert Merton’s four norms of science aimed to solve this crisis in the field of science by providing a value-based structure about how activities in the field of science should be conducted. The four Mertonian Norms of science are Universalism, Communism, Disinterestedness, and Organized Skepticism.
The first Mertonian Norm, Universalism was the idea that anybody can contribute to science, regardless of who they are. For example, class, race, gender, as well as other biases should not be used as a tool to prevent somebody from contributing to the field of science. As Merton states, “The acceptance or rejection of claims entering the lists of science is not to depend on the personal or social attributes of their protagonist” (Merton, 270). This idea is extremely important in regard to scientific discoveries and advancements because it is important to have diversity within science. Scientists come from many different backgrounds and have different personal attributes. If we disregard a discovery to do a bias such as race or gender, then we could disregard very important discoveries that can change how we understand the world.
The second Mertonian Norm of science is Communism, also known as Communalism. Merton’s norm of Communism is the idea that scientific knowledge and discoveries should be shared with everybody. Merton states, “The substantive findings of science are a product of social collaboration and are assigned to the community” (Merton, 273). In order for science to progress in the most efficient and proper way, scientific discoveries of others should be shared with the larger community, allowing other scientists to build upon these discoveries and find new discoveries of their own. This Mertonian Norm allows science to advance efficiently with collaboration and the common ownership of science. While Merton’s second norm of Communism makes very much sense in the broader view of scientific advancement, there is a major setback to this norm that we observe in our world. Merton’s norm of Communism does not allow for intellectual property, which is a large aspect of corporations that allow them to profit. For example, a corporation may own patent rights to a scientific discovery made and therefore only the corporation can utilize this discovery or idea due to patent laws. While this goes against the Mertonian Norm of Communism, it is extremely common in the world of business as it allows corporations to protect their discoveries and ideas from being stolen by others. While patent laws are necessary in the world of business, based on Merton’s values it could be argued that these laws hinder advancements in the field of science.
The third Mertonian Norm is Disinterestedness. Disinterestedness refers to the idea that scientists should act for the benefit of the common scientific community rather than for personal gain. When scientists focus on the benefit of the greater community rather than personal gain, the field of science is able to advance further. Merton notes, “A passion for knowledge, idle curiosity, altruistic concern with the benefit to humanity, and a host of other special motives have been attributed to the scientist” (Merton, 276). While it is very important to the integrity of the field of science that the norm of Disinterestedness is practiced, Merton notes that scientists often hold each other accountable against self-aggrandizing and cultism. When scientists aim to benefit the common scientific enterprise rather than themselves, the field of science advances more efficiently as the field of science is advancing rather than one’s personal goals.
The final Mertonian Norm is known as Organized Skepticism. Organized Skepticism is the idea that scientific discoveries must be reviewed by others and must be exposed to collective and critical scrutiny before acceptance and publication. As seen in Soviet Russia, scientific ideas were subject to the control of government and were accepted without critical and collective skepticism and review. As Merton argues, “In modern totalitarian society, anti-rationalism and the centralization of institutional control both serve to limit the scope provided for scientific activity” (Merton, 278). Peer-review and organized skepticism are necessary in science in order to make sure discoveries and ideas are accurate, and to limit the control of science by institutions. Peer-review is extremely important and common in the world of science today and is a large part of the reason that the field of science has progressed as far as it has.
To conclude, Robert K. Merton set out these four norms of science in order to maintain integrity within the scientific community and to advance science in the most efficient way possible. While there are some limitations to Mertonian Norms, such as patent laws, these values provide a strong outline for how scientific activity should be conducted in order to benefit the greater society and scientific community, rather than one’s self.