Preview

The Social Theories of Harriet Martineau

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
831 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Social Theories of Harriet Martineau
The Social Theories of Harriet Martineau For the most part, men are usually credited when it comes to Sociological Theories and explanations. Women were given little attention if any, when it came to matters outside of the household. One woman in particular managed to stand out in the 1800’s despite the plague of gender inequalities during her time. She not only stood up against sexism but also used her Sociological perspectives to fight for women’s rights, the well being of children, suppression of non-whites, and the abolition of slavery. Harriet Martineau ventured bravely into a world of theories that was dominated by white men. Women were far from being heard and even farther from being thought of as equals regarding education. Women were trained to stay at home to bear children and maintain the home while the husband was away. Even though a lot of women were educated, they still did not have a voice in the real world. Despite these challenges, Harriet Martineau became a pioneer in writing and paved the road for many other women to follow. Martineau grew up in a Utilitarian household and became a major advocate for economic reform (Clearly & Hughs, 2013). Martineau took her own experiences and education to write about the things she was passionate about. This passion took her around the world and as she traveled, she advanced her observations and came up with new conclusions. Harriet Martineau adopted Auguste Comte’s concepts of Positive Science and used his methodology to study the natural and social world (Vissing, 2011). Martineau exercised Comte’s means of observation, experimentation, and comparison to develop her own reasoning’s. Retrieved from (http://www.radford.edu/~junnever/theory/comte.htm) “Martineau argued that apparent differences in intellect between men and women were the product of educational discrimination” (Clearly & Hughs, 2013). Martineau considered the treatment of women to only be slightly better than the treatment


References: Cleary, M., & Hughes, P. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/harrietmartineau.html (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.radford.edu/~junnever/theory/comte.htm Vissing, Y. (2011). Introduction to Sociology. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Comparing The Cult Of Domesticity: Rosa Cassttari And Luna Kellie
    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Comparing The Cult Of Domesticity: Rosa Cassttari And Luna Kellie

    Despite the growth of industry, urban centers, and immigration, America in the 19th century was still very rural. The “Cult of Domesticity” first named and identified in the early part of the century, the beliefs embodied in this “cult” gave women a central role in the family. Women’s god given role, it stated was a wife and mother. Pulling against these “beliefs” was the sense of urgency, movement, and progress in the industrial and political changes affecting the country. Women could not help but see themselves in this growth. Women wanted new options, jobs, education and more. Not many women pursued their dream though because many had little to no support, but that difficulty didn’t stop some women from pursuing their goals. Rosa Cassettari and Luna Kellie were two of the women from the same era that decided to pursue the wishes in order to have a better and prosperous life and be able to provide for their families as best as they could. These two women were great examples of how hard but not impossible it was to gain their own freedom and rights aside of what society believed a women’s role was. Even though the faced many hardships and obstacles these two women found the courage to overcome all the…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Life of Shirley Chisholm
    • 3452 Words
    • 14 Pages

    The Life of Shirley Chisholm

    Shirley Chisholm was a “Rough Rider” straight out of the gate. Her mother said at 3 years old, she was bossing kids 3 and 4 years older than her. To know Shirley Chisholm, is to know that she was small in stature but, she had a lot of tenacity. Due to the economic situation in the United States her parents could not afford a good education, so they sent Shirley and her sisters back to Barbados to live with their maternal grandmother, for about 7 years. Her education in the strict, British-style schools of Barbados, she credits with her ease with speaking and writing. After attending those schools, when she returned to the states, she was several years ahead of her peers.…

    • 3452 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl
    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Harriet Jacobs Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl

    Harriet Jacobs is the author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. During the civil war, when she published it, Harriet had to have her character as another name, so that there was no chance of her getting caught since Dr. Flint was still after her. Before she helped any other slaves, even her self, she does every thing she can just to help her children first. Harriet knew that the only way to let slaves know all that she went through in her experiences was to write an autobiography. Jacobs didn't think that the book was enough, so besides the job of taking care of her children, she also helped slaves by starting organizations.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Analyze the changes that occurred during the 1960's in the goals, strategies and support of the movement for African American civil rights
    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analyze the changes that occurred during the 1960's in the goals, strategies and support of the movement for African American civil rights

    In the years 1890-1925, the role of women in American society had changed politically, economically, and socially. Women were no longer considered the servant of men. She was considered an important part of society, but wasn’t able to lead in areas dominated by men. In this time period this is when things started to change for the women.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rosie The Riveter Research Paper
    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rosie The Riveter Research Paper

    Women have done amazing things, even though they are not always recognized or compensated equally that does not stop them. Running countries, (Queen Elizabeth of England ) demolishing stereotypes, and obtaining the right to vote are some of the very incredible things that women have accomplished. Kate Sheppard, Rosa Parks. Eleanor Roosevelt, and Hillary Clinton are all women who have affected the feminism movement after Rosie the Riveter. Not only did Rosie the Riveter initiate the feminist movement, but she still is changing the perception of women in American society today.…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Martha Fernal Challenges
    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Martha Fernal Challenges

    A couple of challenges that Martha Bernal faced as she was getting her education stretched from family to race and sex. She was told by her father that her job as a woman was to stay home and care for the children and husband, she was able to convince her father, though, that she was doing the right thing, he soon supported her, but it wasn't his ideal idea. She was never motivated at school to take complex classes which made her believe this was the reason women do not move on with their education, this only made Bernal work even harder for her education. As she entered college she noticed a few more challenges where professors did not ask the female student body to assist them on research papers and the few that were chosen where usually white giving her less of a chance to participate as Bernal is from Mexican descent. She believed that the female student body was used to this behavior because of the lack of girls standing up and taking charge.…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    "Born for Liberty" A History of Women in America by Sara M. Evans.
    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages

    "Born for Liberty" A History of Women in America by Sara M. Evans.

    According to Evans, women achieved a lot of things, but they weren't necessarily the same as the ones men achieved! " American women changed the meaning of public life itself. They did this over a long period of time while simultaneously shaping and adapting their own private sphere, the family, to changing times...women made possible a new vision of active citizenship unlike the original vision based on the worlds of small farmers and artisans" (Evans 3).…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    FRE In what ways did the early nineteenth-century reform movements for abolition and women's rights illustrate both the strengths and the weaknesses of democracy in the early American republic?
    • 1630 Words
    • 5 Pages

    FRE In what ways did the early nineteenth-century reform movements for abolition and women's rights illustrate both the strengths and the weaknesses of democracy in the early American republic?

    Writing was a popular form of expression for women and was used as tools of social change--in the form of letters, essays, magazine and newspaper articles, short stories and books. These works became the beginning of intellectual expression through which women not only battled for their own rights, but paralleled their situation to that of the enslaved black man as well, and fought for the abolition of slavery.…

    • 1630 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Susan B Anthony Women In The 1800's
    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Susan B Anthony Women In The 1800's

    Susan B. Anthony once said, "Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less." Today, there are many female leaders and role models. They have changed this world for the better by finding cures and inventing useful things. What if these women hadn't had the opportunity to perform these actions? The women's rights reform was an extremely important topic in the 1800's. A variety of many feminists fought for women's rights.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cracks in the Mold
    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Cracks in the Mold

    The mid twentieth century proved to be a compelling, interesting time for the United States and an era that changed the World. The Civil Rights movement brought the end to de jure segregation and racism and this incredible grassroots movement served as a foundational model for other groups to mock and seek their own liberation. The 1960s spurned movements not only for African Americans, but also for the LGBT community and women. With the emergence of America as a media savvy economic powerhouse post the World Wars, a tide sort of changed within the community of women. According to Sara Evans in the selection “Cracks in the Mold,” women in the 1950s recognized they were somewhat limited to performing the dutiful tasks of motherhood, but many were outright no longer finding fulfillment in such rolls (176). Evans describes the complexities of sexism in the United States’ culture while also she explains that both a conservative female push and a more radical feminist movement helped shape the legislation and attitude changes permeating through twentieth century America.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    American Revolution Dbq Analysis
    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages

    American Revolution Dbq Analysis

    American lived in a world were men was always the most dominated. during the coming of the revolution hope for women began to come together. As stated in document 10 were Molly Wallace belived that it was not fair for that boys were taught certain things that girls were never offered. She belives that girls deserve to acquire the same habits that boys are given the chance to learn. Her audience that she aimed for was all young ladies and the academy of Philadelphia. Another recognition of gender equality is stated in document 1 were it shows a pictuure of a women holding a gun and another weapon. It shows that women fought along side with man during the war. Slaves also experienced changed during this time. As stated in docment 2 which shows the ideas behind universal freedom were beginning to show themselves. An example of this is the an Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio stated in document 8 which banned slavery in all U.S. territory north of the Ohio River. This relates to the 3/5 compromise were it was the first time slaves were actually couunted as people. Freedom of religion was also benefitting the Revolution. As stated in Document 4 a Statutes at Large of Virginia,Which was a movement of all men the purpose of this was to march for religious freedom. It paid off because as stated in first amendant of the bill of rigts that everyone had freedom to pratice any religion they…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Early Nineteenth-Century Reform Movements for Abolition and Women's Rights
    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Early Nineteenth-Century Reform Movements for Abolition and Women's Rights

    Life for the American woman in the 19th century was full of conflicts and struggles. Women suffered from a lot of discrimination, and were not allowed to vote, attend universities, speak in public, or own property, and were essentially forced to fight for their place within society. Regardless of these difficulties, women gathered strength in numbers and succeeded in establishing permanent social changes.…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Elizabeth Blackwell
    • 3035 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Elizabeth Blackwell

    Women face many challenges that men did not have to face. In the early days of our country, it was a man’s world. Women served their men. They were not offered the same opportunities that men were. To some extent, this still exists today. Women don’t always receive equal pay for equal work as their male co-workers. That was true in the 1840’s when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. That shows amounts of moral courage that many of us could never achieve.…

    • 3035 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Role Of Feminism In The 19th Century
    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Role Of Feminism In The 19th Century

    The first wave of feminism and the Antebellum reforms were greatly intertwined. In the early stages of feminism, the goal was not to make women equal to men. Instead, women often tried to fix the ills of society by preaching temperance, creating schools for urban immigrants, creating mental asylums, and developing orphanages. In fact, many women feared that too much equality would make women seem too “mannish.”…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Gender Inequality In The Workplace
    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Gender Inequality In The Workplace

    It is no secret that for centuries, women have faced years and years of discrimination, inferiority to men, and being viewed as less than human by society. Women have had to fight for their right to vote amongst other legal rights, and for their independence from their husbands. “When American women began to enter the labor force in the nineteenth century, the relatively few jobs open to them were highly segregated by gender” (Spain 1992: 14). The first women’s labor union began to form by the end of the 1930’s. Women’s activism began to increase, leading to a new reform in paid work and the rise in feminism in the midst of a new labor movement (Gregory 2003: 25). By the 1940’s, the transition of the housewife to that of a working woman began to trend. Women began to venture out of the home in search of employment and educational opportunities to help provide for their families, since their…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More

Related Topics