● 1st female sociologist
● Wrote the bestselling series called Illustrations on the
Political Economy, which used fables and a literary style
of writing to bring economic principles of Adam Smith to
the general public
● Also wrote Society in America and How to Observe Morals and
Manners
Society in America: Set of 3 volumes that identified principles
that Americans professed to hold dear: Democracy, justice, and
freedom
- Documented the social patterns that she had observed in
America and then contrasted it with the values that
Americans thought they held with the values actually within
their economic and political systems
- The 3rd volume was dedicated to the study of marriage,
female occupations, and the health of women
How to Observe Morals and Manners: A treatise on research
methodology, describing how to cross-cultural studies of morals
and moral behavior
- Dealt with interviewing, sampling, bias in observation, the
problem of generalizing from individuals to a whole society
- Also wrote about class, religion, suicide, nationalism,
domestic life, gender, crime, and health
- Martineau’s work was forgotten until the 1970s when
feminist scholars began to revisit her, that the full
extent of her influence on sociology was realized
● Wrote the bestselling series called Illustrations on the
Political Economy, which used fables and a literary style
of writing to bring economic principles of Adam Smith to
the general public
● Also wrote Society in America and How to Observe Morals and
Manners
Society in America: Set of 3 volumes that identified principles
that Americans professed to hold dear: Democracy, justice, and
freedom
- Documented the social patterns that she had observed in
America and then contrasted it with the values that
Americans thought they held with the values actually within
their economic and political systems
- The 3rd volume was dedicated to the study of marriage,
female occupations, and the health of women
How to Observe Morals and Manners: A treatise on research
methodology, describing how to cross-cultural studies of morals
and moral behavior
- Dealt with interviewing, sampling, bias in observation, the
problem of generalizing from individuals to a whole society
- Also wrote about class, religion, suicide, nationalism,
domestic life, gender, crime, and health
- Martineau’s work was forgotten until the 1970s when
feminist scholars began to revisit her, that the full
extent of her influence on sociology was realized
