Editing Unintended consequences (section)

===Robert K. Merton===
Sociologist [[Robert K. Merton]] popularised this concept in the twentieth century.<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Renowned Columbia Sociologist and National Medal of Science Winner Robert K. Merton Dies at 92 |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/03/02/robertKMerton.html|publisher=Columbia News}}</ref><ref>[http://www.asanet.org/footnotes/mar03/indextwo.html Robert K. Merton Remembered] Footnotes, American Sociological Association</ref><ref name="Merton"/>

In "The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action" (1936), Merton tried to apply a systematic analysis to the problem of unintended consequences of deliberate acts intended to cause [[social change]]. He emphasized that his term ''purposive action'', "[was exclusively] concerned with 'conduct' as distinct from 'behavior.' That is, with action that involves motives and consequently a choice between various alternatives".<ref name="Merton">{{cite journal|last=Merton|first=Robert K.|title=The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action|journal=[[American Sociological Review]]|volume=1|issue=6|pages=894–904|url=http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/4111/2111-home/CD/TheoryClass/Readings/MertonSocialAction.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429205921/http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/4111/2111-home/CD/TheoryClass/Readings/MertonSocialAction.pdf |archive-date=2013-04-29 |url-status=live|access-date=2008-05-30|doi=10.2307/2084615|jstor=2084615|year=1936}}</ref> Merton's usage included deviations from what [[Max Weber]] defined as rational social action: instrumentally rational and value rational.<ref>{{cite book|last=Weber|first=Max|title=Economy and Society |url=https://archive.org/details/economysociety00webe|url-access=registration|publisher=University of California Press|date=1978|pages=[https://archive.org/details/economysociety00webe/page/24 24–25]|isbn=978-0-520-02824-1}}</ref> Merton also stated that "no blanket statement categorically affirming or denying the practical feasibility of ''all'' social planning is warranted."<ref name="Merton"/>