death_date death_place birth_place imagesize notableworks birth_date image article_title
27 june 1876 ambleside , england norwich , england 235px '' '' society in america '' -lrb- 1837 -rrb- '' deerbrook illustrations '' -lrb- 1839 -rrb- '' the hour and the man of '' -lrb- 1839 -rrb- political economy '' -lrb- 1834 -rrb- 12 june 1802 harriet martineau by richard evans.jpg harriet martineau

harriet martineau

harriet martineau -lrb- ; 12 june 1802 -- 27 june 1876 -rrb- was an english social theorist and whig writer , often cited as the first female sociologist .
martineau wrote many books and a multitude of essays from a sociological , holistic , religious , domestic , and perhaps most controversially , feminine perspective ; she also translated various works from auguste comte .
she earned enough to be supported entirely by her writing , a rare feat for a woman in the victorian era .
a young princess victoria , -lrb- later queen victoria -rrb- , enjoyed reading martineau 's publications .
the queen invited martineau to her coronation in 1838 -- an event which martineau described , in great and amusing detail , to her many readers .
martineau said of her own approach to writing : `` when one studies a society , one must focus on all its aspects , including key political , religious , and social institutions '' .
she believed a thorough societal analysis was necessary to understand women 's status under men .
the novelist margaret oliphant said `` as a born lecturer and politician she was less distinctively affected by her sex than perhaps any other , male or female , of her generation . ''
martineau introduced feminist sociological perspectives into her writing on otherwise overlooked issues such as marriage , children , domestic and religious life , and race relations .
