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
6
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
9
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 In 1886, the Acts were repealed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.
22
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