Dusting off the Matthew effect.

The Matthew effect is the moniker given by the great sociologist Robert K. Merton to the phenomenon that the rich tend to get richer while the poor tend to stay poor. Although well-known in public discourse, the Matthew effect has now been out of fashion in the corpus of social policy theory for over two decades. In my research, I have argued and empirically demonstrated that the Matthew effect still is a relevant analytical device to evaluate the outcomes of social policy. How to improve poverty reduction by remedying the Matthew effect, will be subject of my research agenda in the years to come.

Keywords:SOCIOLOGY

Disciplines:Applied sociology, Policy and administration, Social psychology, Social stratification, Social theory and sociological methods, Sociology of life course, family and health, Other sociology and anthropology