One Term, Two Paths: Merton's Unrealized Survey and the Wisconsin Model's Triumph

• In Event: History of Sociology and Social Thought Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Roundtable 3: Excavating Method in the Production of Sociological Thought

Abstract

Between 1949-1950, Robert K. Merton conducted an intensive aspiration survey in Manhattan's Manhattanville district, producing hundreds of pages of interview records. Yet this survey never resulted in published findings. Around the same time, William Sewell and colleagues launched their 1957 Wisconsin survey, which became canonical in stratification research. Both employed "aspiration," yet conceptualized it fundamentally differently.
Merton's survey, revealed through Columbia University archival research, focused on how "law-abiding citizens" in disadvantaged areas avoided deviance by managing occupational frustration. His 1949 footnote warned that laboratory methods captured only "slight ego-involvement" versus the "strong emotional investment" in real pursuit of success, proposing "disciplined observation in everyday life" instead. Graduate assistant Hanan Selvin's 1950 progress report analyzed how survey findings related to anomie theory revisions, attempting to integrate structural and reference group perspectives.
Wisconsin operationalized aspiration differently: "Do you plan to go to college?" (educational aspiration) and "What job do you hope for?" (occupational aspiration, coded via Duncan's SEI). Critically absent was any income aspiration measure. This created conceptual ambiguity: were these measuring orientation toward institutional means (education, occupations) or ultimate goals (economic success)?
This produced an empirical puzzle: Sewell and Hauser (1975) found educational attainment correlated negatively with earnings (r = -.337). Through Merton's lens, this reveals structural disjuncture—pursuing means doesn't guarantee goals—precisely what generates anomie.
Merton's insight was partially recovered: Clark (1960) analyzed institutional "cooling-out" to prevent anomie; MacLeod (1987/2009) examined aspiration regulation in class reproduction. Yet the shift from "how do people avoid deviance?" to "how does inequality persist?" reflects broader disciplinary changes. Recovering this unrealized path illuminates what was lost and gains contemporary relevance through Berlant's "cruel optimism"—when aspirational attachments themselves become damaging.

Author

• Toru Takeoka, Ritsumeikan University