Harriet Martineau
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Transcript Harriet Martineau
Classical Sociologists’
Timeline
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
Harriet Martineau (1802 –1876)
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929)
W. E. B. DuBois (1868-1963)
IMPORTANT !!!
Before Durkheim, Engels, Marx, or
Weber…
Martineau examined social class,
religion, suicide, national character,
domestic relations, women’s status,
criminology, and interrelations
between institutions and individuals.
Martineau’s life
Born June 12,1802
Daughter of textile
worker
Middle class
6th of 8 children
Before age 16, lost
her sense of smell,
taste, and hearing
Ear Trumpet
Harriet Martineau
Single female in a very male world
dominated economic
Father: Died during 1820s
Fiancé: Mental & physical collapse
Remained single & independent
By 1829, committed to writing
profession
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Harriet’s Work
Writer: Fictional and Sociological
works
Pioneer in field of sociology
Harriet’s Work
Work includes over 1,500 columns and about 61
books
An advocate for freedom and emancipation of
women and slaves.
“… Is it to be understood that the principles of the
Declaration of Independence bear no relation to
half of the human race?”
Society in America (1837)
Harriet Martineau
First “methodological essay” ever
published, How to Observe Morals and
Manners (1838)
Translated and abbreviated Comte’s
Positive Philosophy
Spread Comte’s word far and wide
Comte had it retranslated into French
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Beliefs
Strong believer in feminism
First to speak on women being
viewed as secondary partner in
a relationship (marriage)
Beliefs
Women could contribute more to
society than just as a house wife
Talks of abuse that women endure
Revolutionary in helping women
learn to fight back
Few followers: Unlike women to
disobey husbands
Activism
In 1869, supported the Ladies’ National
Association for the Repeal of the
Contagious Diseases Acts.
In 1886, the Acts were repealed
Call for repeal of laws that gave authority to
police to detain and examine women on
suspicion of prostitution as means to
control the spread of syphilis and gonorrhea
12
Society
Believed society had to be changed
through social reforms
Belief in social reform:
Component of Necessarianism
Also reflects Unitarian background
Necessarianism
Theory that every event
Including action of human will
Is necessary result of a sequence of
causes
Determinism
Unitarianism
Denies Trinity, God is one
Rejects doctrine of “original sin”
Unlimited nature of the Redemption
by Christ
All souls will be saved
No hell
Kate Middleton
The Individual
Autonomous
Moral
Practical
Agent
The Individual
Unitarian background encouraged her
to see the quest for knowledge and the
betterment of society as being
For
the growth of the individual
member of society
Concept of society
Social interaction and human
association existed for the happiness
of the individual
Purpose of society: Serve social
needs of individuals
To empower individuals to make
their lives better
Society
Autonomy essential to individual
happiness and
Progress of society
The subjugation of women and the
enslavement of other humans->
Denied society assets that would be much
more valuable if they (women and the
enslaved) were allowed autonomy
Harriet Martineau: Sociology of Slavery
Between 1834 and
1836,
Martineau
traveled through the United States
Indentured servitude of white
immigrants had been abolished
Introducing any form of
servitude was prohibited in
Northern and Western regions of
U.S.
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Harriet Martineau:
Sociology of Slavery
Slavery confined to 13
Southern states that grew
tobacco, rice, cotton, and
sugar
Slave population 2.5 million
Selfhood
Through autonomy,
Individuals:
Explore boundaries of their
intellectual capacity
Contribute to social
progress
Towards the End of Her
Life…
Took trip to the Middle-East
Wrote Eastern Life Past and Present
After trip, she became an atheist
Left with very few supporters, including
her family
In 1876, she died from an illness
Now remembered as the first
sociologist
woman