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CHARLENE T.

SANTOS
BSBA MM 3-1N

Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)


Life and contributions
Martineau was the sixth of eight children born to Elizabeth Rankin and Thomas Martineau. Thomas owned a
textile mill, and Elizabeth was the daughter of a sugar refiner and grocer, making the family economically stable
and wealthier than most Britons at the time. The Martineau family were descendants of French Huguenots who
fled Catholic France for Protestant England. The family practiced Unitarian faith, and instilled the importance
of education and critical thinking in all of their children. However, Elizabeth was also a strict believer in
traditional gender roles, so while the Martineau boys went to college, the girls did not, and were expected to
learn domestic work instead. This would prove to be a formative life experience for Harriet, who bucked all
traditional gender expectations, and wrote extensively about gender inequality.
Norwich, England. Martineau was a self-taught expert in political economic theory, and wrote prolifically about
the relations between politics, economics, morals, and social life throughout her career. Her intellectual work
was centered by a staunchly moral perspective that stemmed from her Unitarian faith. She was fiercely critical
of the inequality and injustice faced by girls and women, slaves, wage slaves, and the working poor.
Martineau was one of the first women journalists, and also worked as a translator, speech writer, and wrote
acclaimed novels that invited readers to consider pressing social issues of the day. Many of her ideas about
political economy and society were presented in the form of stories, making them appealing and accessible. She
was known at the time for her keen ability to explain complicated ideas in an easy-to-understand manner, and
should be considered one of the first public sociologists.
Martineaus key contribution to the field of sociology was her assertion that when studying society, one must
focus on all aspects of it. She emphasized the importance of examining political, religious, and social
institutions. Martineau believed that by studying society in this way, one could deduce why inequality existed,
particularly that faced by girls and women. In her writing she brought an early feminist perspective to bear on
issues such as marriage, children, home and religious life, and race relations.
Her social theoretical perspective was often focused on the moral stance of a populace and how it did or did not
correspond to the social, economic, and political relations of its society. Martineau measured progress in society
by three standards: the status of those who hold the least power in society, popular views of authority and
autonomy, and access to resources that allow the realization of autonomy and moral action.
She won numerous awards for her writing, and was a rare successful and popular--though controversial-working woman writer during the Victorian era. She published over 50 books and over 2,000 articles in her
lifetime. Her translation into English and rearticulation of Auguste Comtes foundational sociological text,
Cours de Philosophie Positive, was received so well by readers and by Comte himself that he had Martineaus
English version translated back to French.
She died in 1876 near Ambleside, Westmorland, in England. Martineaus sweeping contributions to social
thought are more often than not overlooked within the cannon of classical sociological theory, though her work
was widely lauded in its day, and preceded that of mile Durkheim and Max Weber.

CHARLENE T.
SANTOS
BSBA MM 3-1N

Jane Addams (18601935)


Women's Rights Activist, Anti-War Activist, Philanthropist (18601935)
Life and contributions
Settlement house founder and peace activist Jane Addams (1860-1935) was one of the most distinguished of the
first generation of college-educated women, rejecting marriage and motherhood in favor of a lifetime
commitment to the poor and social reform. Inspired by English reformers who intentionally resided in lowerclass slums, Addams, along with a college friend, Ellen Starr, moved in 1889 into an old mansion in an
immigrant neighborhood of Chicago. Hull-House, which remained Addamss home for the rest of her life and
became the center of an experiment in philanthropy, political action, and social science research, was a model
for settlement work among the poor.
Addams responded to the needs of the community by establishing a nursery, dispensary, kindergarten,
playground, gymnasium, and cooperative housing for young working women. As an experiment in group living,
Hull-House attracted male and female reformers dedicated to social service. Addams always insisted that she
learned as much from the neighborhoods residents as she taught them.
Having quickly found that the needs of the neighborhood could not be met unless city and state laws were
reformed, Addams challenged both boss rule in the immigrant neighborhood of Hull-House and indifference to
the needs of the poor in the state legislature. She and other Hull-House residents sponsored legislation to abolish
child labor, establish juvenile courts, limit the hours of working women, recognize labor unions, make school
attendance compulsory, and ensure safe working conditions in factories. The Progressive party adopted many of
these reforms as part of its platform in 1912. At the partys national convention, Addams seconded the
nomination of Theodore Roosevelt for president and campaigned actively on his behalf. She advocated
womans suffrage because she believed that womens votes would provide the margin necessary to pass social
legislation she favored.
Addams publicized Hull-House and the causes she believed in by lecturing and writing. In her autobiography,
20 Years at Hull-House (1910), she argued that society should both respect the values and traditions of
immigrants and help the newcomers adjust to American institutions. A new social ethic was needed, she said, to
stem social conflict and address the problems of urban life and industrial capitalism. Although tolerant of other
ideas and social philosophies, Addams believed in Christian morality and the virtue of learning by doing.
Because Addams was convinced that war sapped the reform impulse, encouraged political repression, and
benefited only munition makers, she opposed World War I. She unsuccessfully tried to persuade President
Woodrow Wilson to call a conference to mediate a negotiated end to hostilities. During the war she spoke
throughout the country in favor of increased food production to aid the starving in Europe. After the armistice
she helped found the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, serving as president from 1919
until her death in 1935. Vilified during World War I for her opposition to American involvement, Addams a
decade later had become a national heroine and Chicagos leading citizen. In 1931, her long involvement in
international efforts to end war was recognized when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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