Stated succinctly, Merton’s image of human nature is centered in the Hobbesian/Durkheimian problem of unrealistic expectations, while his image of society reflects more an interest in balance than in change. Such images are expressed theoretically in questions of social control, specifically, the relationship between expectations of success and opportunities for success. Moreover, Merton was to qualify the societal vision of functional unity and inherent progress attributable to most order theorists.

As to his conception of sociology and its theory, Merton departed markedly from the macro-level approach of Parsons and others. He came to view theory as the development of middle-range propositions. Thus, instead of constructing grand and abstract theories of society, theorists were advised to explain a restricted set of social phenomena. These modest explanations were then to be verified through empirical research and then perhaps systematized into theoretical systems of boarder scope and content. Implicit, then, are Merton’s assumptions on the integrated nature of society, the need to control the victims of false expectations, and the positivist nature of sociology (Perdue, 1986, p. 84).