Harriet Martineau was a British 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 by Auguste Comte, and she earned enough to support herself entirely by her writing, a rare feat for a woman in the Victorian era.
The young Princess Victoria enjoyed reading Martineau's publications. She 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 [Martineau] was less distinctively affected by her sex than perhaps any other, male or female, of her generation".
Wikipedia
Occupation, vol. 3, Society in America (1837).
Women, vol. 3, Society in America (1837).
