L'indice segreto. Origine e sviluppo del rapporto di Merton con Durkheim

This article aims at deepening the restless adherence of Robert K. Merton to the durkheimian tradition through the concept of index. To do so, it provides a detailed analysis of the first essay written by the American sociologist: «Durkheim’s Division of Labor in Society» (1934). The results of this analysis are also compared with Merton’s subsequent writings, such as Sociological Theory (1945) and The Bearing of Empirical Research Upon the Development of Sociological Theory (1948), in which the confrontation with the Durkheim’s indexes is further reaffirmed. This comparison generates the possibility to identify the evolution of the relationship that the American sociologist establishes with the French one in the light of a fundamental tool of empirical research.