Harriet Martineau

Harriet Martineau

Harriet Martineau (born June 12, 1802 in Norwich , Norfolkshire, † June 27, 1876 in Ambleside , Westmoreland, County Cumbria ) was a British writer who presented the reform-conscious political and scientific ideas of her time in numerous newspaper articles and books in easily understandable language. She is considered an early champion for women's rights and is often referred to as the first feminist sociologist .

Origin and youth

Harriet Martineau came from a family that the grandfather Gaston Martineau ( Huguenot ) founded in Protestant England after his escape from France. Her parents were the cloth manufacturer Thomas Martineau and Elizabeth Martineau, b. Rankin. The younger brother James Martineau later became one of the most renowned religious philosophers of his time. She described her childhood as difficult and marked by illness and nervousness. Not only were tactile and taste sensations impaired, a hearing impairment also became noticeable in the 12th year of life, which accompanied her throughout her life. While her brothers received a comprehensive school education followed by the possibility of studying or vocational training, for them - as for their sisters - the female role customary at the time would have been given. After attending the girls' school, however, she received further instruction and suggestions from Unitarian clergy. For church newspapers she wrote first articles for children and about the school and poor system. This opened up a literary career for her.

life and work

A great success was the nine-volume work Illustrations of Political Economy , published from 1832 to 1834 , in which she explained questions of political economy in the sense of Malthus and Ricardo in popular science. Their social reform work was influenced by the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill .

From 1834 to 1836, Martineau traveled through North America. Her friendship with Margaret Fuller dates from this time . On her return she lived in London, where she socialized with intellectual circles close to the liberal Whigs . Out of this reformist environment, she denounced slavery , the corruption of the clergy and the discrimination against women.

Martineau made a living from her articles and books. While Darwin's later biographers Desmond and Moore criticized their vernacular, Darwin's sisters assured him in letters to him, who anchored off Tierra del Fuego on the research ship Beagle , that they devoured the “little books” of the “great London society lioness” with pleasure. When Martineau met Darwin in 1837 and read him from the draft of her novel Deerbrook , he was also impressed by her “fluid prose”, which she seemed to pull out of her sleeve and never had to correct. Martineau had a long love affair with Darwin's older brother Erasmus. She made the acquaintance of numerous celebrities, including Malthus, who expressly praised her for popularizing his ideas. Martineau's (letter) friends included Florence Nightingale and Charlotte Brontë .

As early as 1838, Martineau dealt with the methodical inclusion of children in scientific studies in her work How to Observe morals and Manners and emphasized their necessity. In her opinion, the researcher must examine children whenever he meets them. An active investigation is important, in which the researcher interacts with the children in addition to the observation. Martineau makes it clear that home influences have significant effects on children and that this needs to be investigated more closely. When examining children, it must not be forgotten that their behavior depends on the social circumstances, i.e. the social environment.

Martineau as a feminist sociologist

The position of women in the Victorian era was marked by the lack of civil rights. For example, they were not allowed to vote, attend universities or participate in public life in any other way. Women were only reduced to their roles as mother and wife. The values ​​during this period were based in particular on the teaching of the Church. The position of women was thus shaped by religious values, the assumed biological differences between the two sexes and the changing conditions of the developing economy.

Martineau's role in the women's movement that was emerging at the time could be described as somewhat more reserved. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that Martineau appealed for a reform of existing norms rather than a revolution in society. Some feminists of the time were more radical. At the beginning of her career, Martineau did not make a clear commitment to the women's movement. Often she did not identify herself as a woman and did not actively participate in feminist campaigns. For example, Martineau's statements influenced the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women, which was founded in 1859, but was not involved in the campaign. 1864 was the first time she clearly showed her affiliation with a feminist corporation, the Contagious Diseases Act.

Nevertheless, Martineau can be called a feminist, because in two of her best-known works ( Society in America and How to Observe Morals and Manners ) she expresses herself clearly feminist.

In the chapter on analyzing the domestic state in How to Observe Morals and Manners, there is a section on marriage. According to Martineau, dealing with marriage is one of the most important things the observer should investigate about the domestic state of a society. She claims that in no other part of society is the corruption of society as deeply manifested as it does in marriage. In marriage, the inequality between men and women is very evident. Martineau clearly criticizes the fact that women are seen as an inferior part in this pact, although both people have the same interests, i.e. should also be seen as equal parts. It is also interesting that she says that at that time there was almost no country where there was actual equality within marriage.

In How to Observe Morals and Manners , Martineau also criticizes the fact that women do not have the opportunity to work in well-paid jobs. They are only trusted to work in the domestic context. Jobs such as seamstresses are always paid less than jobs that men can do. Women are always financially dependent on their husbands. The only solution Martineau sees is independent work.

In Society in America , Martineau examines the society of what was then America. In doing so, she also takes a critical look at the position of women. This becomes clear in the “Women” chapter. Here she criticizes the falseness of America at the time. This country prides itself on upholding the principles of freedom, equality and democracy. At the same time, however, half of the members of society, namely women, are excluded from these principles. Women are being deprived of their freedom, or have always been denied it. Martineau speaks negatively about the treatment of women in America. The intellectual abilities of women are restricted, their health is ruined and all their strengths are punished. Ironically, this very society boasts of its good treatment of the female sex. Women are deprived of their rights and “indulgence is given her as a substitute for justice” (Martineau 1981, p. 292). Instead of giving women the rights that all human beings should have, they are being replaced by the luxury and pleasure of being a woman. This luxury relates, for example, to the behavior of gentlemen towards them or that they are financially supported by their husbands.

As in How to Observe Morals and Manners , Martineau in Society in America again criticizes the lack of women's right to education. In this work, however, their allegations become stronger. She strongly criticizes the fact that society regards using the intellect of women as inappropriate or even dangerous. Since there are no educational paths open to women, as was the case in England at the time, only the focus on marriage remains as a solution.

In summary, one can say that Harriet Martineau is rightly called a feminist sociologist. In two of her most famous works, How to Observe Morals and Manners and Society in America , she takes a critical look at the position of women in society. In doing so, she realizes that the cause of the subordinate position of women lies in social and societal reasons and not in biological ones. In addition, she and other women in the Victorian era created an important basis for the further course of feminism.

illness

On another trip to Italy in 1839, she fell seriously ill. She sought the assistance of her brother-in-law Thomas Michael Greenhow, who had settled as a doctor in Tynemouth near Newcastle upon Tyne . They were diagnosed with an abdominal tumor with a five-year survival rate. While she was taking opiates for pain, she also hoped mesmerism would cure her. After the five years had expired, she had her own house (The Knoll) built in Ambleside / Cumbria in 1845 near the writers William Wordsworth and Matthew Arnold , with whom she was friends , where she lived for around 30 years. She was now considered recovered and continued her literary work, also writing regular articles for the London Daily News , including translations from French. A free adaptation of Auguste Comte's Cours de philosophie positive appeared in 1853. In addition, Martineau ran some agriculture, held courses for workers in winter and rented her country house to summer guests. She brought back travelogues from her trips through England and Ireland. The result of her trip to the Orient in 1846 was the description of the change in world religions.

Alleged heart problems led to the diagnosis in 1856 that her tumor had grown considerably again. Martineau was looked after by her niece Maria (who died of typhus in 1864 ) and her younger sister Jane (Jenny) , among others . In 1866 she had to stop writing due to illness. Like many other prominent campaigners of emancipation, she previously signed a petition to the London Parliament for women's suffrage . Ten years later she succumbed to bronchitis .

Works

• Illustrations of taxation ; 5 volumes, Charles Fox, 1834
• Illustrations of Political Economy ; 9 volumes, Charles Fox, 1834
• Miscellanies ; 2 volumes, Hilliard, Gray and Co., 1836
• Society in America ; 3 volumes, Saunders and Otley, 1837, reprinted Cambridge University Press, 2009
• Retrospect of Western Travel , Saunders and Otley, 1838
• How to Observe Morals and Manners , Charles Knight and Co, 1838
• Deerbrook , London 1839
• The Crofton Boys. A Tale , Charles Knight, 1841
• Eastern Life. Present and Past , 3 volumes, Edward Moxon, 1848
• With HG Atkinson: Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature and Development , Chapman, 1851, reprinted Cambridge University Press, 2009
• The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte , selected and translated by M., 2 volumes, Chapman, 1853, new edition Cambridge University Press, 2009
• Harriet Martineau's Autobiography. With Memorials by Maria Weston Chapman , 2 volumes, Smith, Elder & Co, 1877

literature

• Maria Weston Chapman: Autobiography, with Memorials. Originally 1877, reprinted Virago, London 1983.
• Florence Fenwick Miller: Harriet Martineau. Originally 1884, reprinted by Nabu Press, 2010.
• RK Webb: Harriet Martineau, a radical Victorian. Heinemann, London 1960
• Paul L. Riedesel: Who Was Harriet Martineau? In: Journal of the History of Sociology , No. 3, 1981, pp. 63-80.
• Gaby Weiner: Harriet Martineau: A reassessment (1802–1876). In: Dale Spender (Ed.): Feminist theorists: Three centuries of key women thinkers. Pantheon, 1983, pp. 60-74.
• Valerie Sanders: Reason Over Passion: Harriet Martineau and the Victorian Novel. New York 1986.
• Deirdre David: Intellectual Women and Victorian Patriarchy: Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot. Cornell University Press, 1989.
• Joan Rees: Women on the Nile: Writings of Harriet Martineau, Florence Nightingale, and Amelia Edwards. Rubicon Press, 1995/2008.
• Michael R. Hill: Harriet Martineau: theoretical and methodological perspectives. Routledge, 2002.
• Deborah Anna Logan: The Hour and the Woman: Harriet Martineau's “Somewhat Remarkable” Life. Northern Illinois University Press, 2002.
• Deborah Anna Logan (Ed.): The Collected Letters Of Harriet Martineau. Pickering and Chatto, London 2007.
• Ella Dzelzainis, Cora Kaplan (eds.): Harriet Martineau: Authorship, Society, and Empire (anthology with essays), Manchester University Press, 2011.
• Levine, Philippa. 1987. Victorian Feminism 1850-1900 . London: Hutchinson.
• Boucher, Daniella. 2006. Small Victories, Lasting Changes. Harriet Martineau, Slavery, and Women's Rights. Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge IV, Special Issue: 321-330.
• Caine, Barbara. 1997. English Feminism 1780-1980 . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Martineau, Harriet. 1989. How to Observe Morals and Manners . New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
• Martineau, Harriet. 1981. Society in America . New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

Web links

Commons : Harriet Martineau  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Martineau Society

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael R. Hill, 2002
2. ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. Bibliographische Anstalt, Leipzig / Vienna 1896, Volume 11, p. 997.
3. ^ Meyer's Lexicon. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1927, vol. 7, column 1782.
4. ^ Adrian Desmond, James Moore: Darwin. London 1991, quoted from the Rowohlt edition Hamburg 1994, p. 178.
5. ↑ Desmond / Moore, 1994, p. 285.
6. ↑ Desmond / Moore, 1994, p. 231.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Uni Graz , accessed on July 21, 2011
8. ^ Eastern Life. Present and Past, 1848.