The sociologist I am going to talk about today was someone I didn’t know about until recently. I didn’t even know there was a female sociologist whose work was so good that it makes me feel so good and proud to be a female sociologist myself.
Sociology has always been my top priority subject, and I am eager to learn about it from every possible source. Two months ago, during a sociological essay writing competition, I got the chance to read about this female sociologist.
This sociologist is known as the “Mother of Sociology,” Harriet Martineau, the first and well known female sociologist and feminist of her time. She was from Britain, and her work was broad and diverse. She worked on many important projects such as Illustrations of Political Economy, Society in America, Household Education, Observation of Morals and Manners, History of the thirty years Peace, and Deerbrook.
All of these works are valuable in their own right, but the one that attracted me the most was, How to Observe Morals and Manners. This book was published in 1838, and in it, she shared her insights on social research methods. She emphasised how sociology should be studied scientifically. This work highlights her significant contribution to the field of sociology.
Harriet Martineau said that when we study different societies, we should remain impartial. An observer should put aside their personal views and cultural biases while analyzing societies because each society has its own unique traditions and values. We must understand these without comparing them to other societies. Another thing I liked about this book is that it promotes observing everyday life, like how people interact, dress and live. These daily habits reflect a society’s fundamental structure and values. Another key point in the book is the distinction between morals and manners.
Morals are the principles a society believes in, while manners are how people behave in their everyday lives. If we understand this difference, we can correctly assess the social conditions of any society.
According to Martineau, no society should be judged by the standards of another. Instead it should be understood on its own terms. This book also advocates for a systematic and scientific approach to social studies, which later led to the development of sociology as a formal discipline. It emphasises fair and unbiased methods for understanding different cultures and provides an early framework for social research. We should build social studies on a scientific foundation, collecting observations methodically, abalyzing them and reaching a conclusion. Social studies is not just about theories, it needs to be done in an objective, organised and unbiased way so that the complete and true picture can emerge.
References
- HOW TO OBSERVE MORALS AND MANNERS, BY HARRIET MARTINEAU (1838)
- HARRIET MARTINEAU THE FOUNDING MONSTER OF SOCIOLOGY(journal of Classical Sociology).
