Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)

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Harriet Martineau was a british sociologist, economist, writer and a social activist. She is very important for the history of women in the social science, it was a hard time to women in the academic world. She written more than fifty books and articles, and even with of all her achievements she was forgotten by the classic theory (made by men). She was one of the first journalists, in 1821 she started to write to Monthly Repository anonymously, there she started to touch topics about women and their rights.

Her circle of friends when she moved to London were a lot of intellectuals, like Darwin, the two of them were interested in equality and emancipation of all humans (they were against slavery).

Is between 1832 and 1833 that she started to be interested in social theory, is at this time that she published two books, Illustrations of Political Economy, and Illustrations of Taxation, is in these publications that she reveals her passion for social reform, she directs her writings to people of all social classes.

In 1839 she writes Deerbook, with this book she started to critique de society through literature. When she started this theoric path is that she became an atheist, being influenced by Comte (positivism). She started to travel around the world and writing in a critical way about the realities she saw.

But it 1848 she started to write about feminism, against Comte, because he believed that feelings were for woman and intelligence belonged to man, Harriet refused to believe this, she says that woman are as capable as man, that woman can be intellectuals and investigate the nature. She did not believe in social division of work, she thought that all women are self-sufficient. Is with this process that she saw things that the other sociologist at the time didn’t, but she was ignored by those men.

Besides of that she had an important role in sociology, she translated to english her essays, she introduced sociology to England and the United States.

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