Robert K. Merton Born on July 4, 1910 in Philadelphia, US He was an American Sociologist in University of Columbia where he got his PhD He is best known for his work on the “role model” a term he coined during his research on the “reference group“ to which social groups compared each other to according to Merton He was also responsible for identifying social roles as part of his social group research Some of his most notable work are: Theory of range middle, Dysfunctions Functional Alternatives, and theory of Deviance or Strain Theory (pressure by society to commit crimes) Contemporary Legal Theorist (Critical Legal Studies) He is considered the founding father of modern sociology He died on February 23rd, 2003 in New York City