Page 250 - DENG502_PROSE

Prose

Notes Society in America [(1837)] 1994) demonstrates the beginnings of a comprehensive, empirical-
sociological analysis. Martineau organized social interactions by classifying them according to the
institution in which they take place. The role of religion, government, economy, slavery, and the
position of women were looked at in relation to the discrepancies between the actual conditions in
the United States and its professed adherence to democracy. Unlike her contemporary, Comte,
Martineau’s analysis was grounded in the real world rather than in abstract theories of society
and history.
How to Observe Morals and Manners ([1838] 1989) is, according to Lipset ([1962] 1994:7), “perhaps
the first boom on the methodology of social research in the then still unborn disciplines of sociology
and anthropology,” predating Durkheim’s The Rules of Sociological Method ([1985] 1938) by
almost half of a century. In How to Observe Morals and Manners, Martineau systematically
discussed rules for conducting field studies, how to collect data, and roles that sympathetic
understanding and generalizations play in developing a conceptual framework for studying society.
After the publications of Society in America and How to Observe Morals and Manners, Martineau
was ill with gynecologic problems, which produced severe back pain and a general loss of physical
strength. This resulted in confinement to her home for almost six years (Hoecker-Drysdale 1992).
During their period, she continued to write, even writing about her own illness. Life in the Sickroom,
originally published anonymously in 1844, was a study of illness that focused on the patient and
those who attended the patient. When she did not show any improvement, and fearing she would
be a lifelong invalid, Martineau turned to the controversial treatment of mesmerism, a treatment
based on the belief that magnetic fluid was present in the body and could be regulated by principles
of electricity and magnetism.
Martineau’s recovery was almost immediate and her pain decreased. This in turn, allowed her to
give up opiates, upon which she had become increasingly dependent. Although, her brother-in-
law, Dr. Thomas Greenhow, who had been in charge of her medical care, claimed she had been
making progress all along, Martineau was convinced that mesmerism was responsible for her
recovery and wrote a book about the experience, Letters on Mesmerism, published in 1845. The
publication of the book engendered a great deal of controversy with the general public and within
Martineau’s own family.
Mesmerism was an extremely controversial procedure and presented a real challenge to traditional
medicine. The medical establishment was harsh in its criticism of Martineau’s account of her
recovery. Closer to home, Greenhow, attempting to preserve his medical reputation, published a
case study of Martineau’s illness, discrediting the mesmerism treatments. (Martineau had originally
given him permission to publish the case in medical journal, but he instead published it in a
popular form). The result was a rancorous split in the family, with Martineau’s mother and sister
taking the side of Dr. Greenhow (Hoecker-Drysdale 1992).

22.4 Religion and Women’s Issues

After this episode, Martineau returned to writing on the theme of religion, which she had written
about when younger. Now, however, she had changed her views, moving from the piety of her
youth of being a critic of religion. Eastern Life: Past and Present (1848), which came out of her travels
to the Middle East two years earlier, advocated the position that religion was like any other social
institution– it was influenced by change in the society in which it was found. Using Saint- Simon’s
and Comte’s “Law of Three Stages” as the basis of her analysis, Martineau saw religion as
evolutionary, moving from magic and superstition to polytheism, and then to monotheism.
Martineau’s next important work, from a sociological perspective, was a collection of short
previously published articles dealing with the socialization of children. The articles were brought
together in Household Education (1849). Two years later, The letters on the Laws of Man’s Nature and
Development, coauthored with Henry George Atkinson (1851), publicly announced her movement
from being a Unitarian theist to an agnostic and a naturalist. The book generated even more

244 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY