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How to Observe: Morals and Manners
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In: How To ...·Sociology
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About this book
Harriet Martineau’s How to Observe: Morals and Manners is a systematic guide that treats the study of human behavior as a disciplined science. The work opens with a declaration of purpose: to furnish travelers and students with “hints for travellers and students” that will sharpen their powers of inquiry across a wide range of subjects, from geology to the fine arts, and then narrows its focus to the particular challenges of observing social customs. After a brief preface that situates the book within a series begun in 1835, Martineau divides the text into three parts, philosophical, moral, and mechanical requisites for observation, a catalogue of topics to be examined (religion, domestic life, liberty, progress, and discourse), and a final section on the practical methods of observation. The opening pages lay out a critique of careless generalizations by tourists and argue for a careful, methodical approach to gathering and interpreting data on morals and manners.
The tone is earnest and didactic, reflecting the mid‑nineteenth‑century reformist spirit in which Martineau wrote. Her prose is dense, peppered with classical references and moral exhortations, yet it remains accessible to readers interested in the early development of social science methodology. Those who enjoy historical works on sociology, anthropology, or the philosophy of observation will find her blend of practical advice and reflective commentary rewarding, especially if they appreciate a period voice that treats the study of society with the same rigor once reserved for natural sciences.
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LONDON: CHARLES KNIGHT AND CO. 22, LUDGATE STREET. 1838.
LONDON: PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
ADVERTISEMENT.
"The best mode of exciting the love of observation is by teaching 'How to Observe.' With this end it was originally intended to produce, in one or two volumes, a series of hints for travellers and students, calling their attention to the points necessary for inquiry or observation in the different branches of Geology, Natural History, Agriculture, the Fine Arts, General Statistics, and Social Manners. On consideration, however, it was determined somewhat to extend the plan, and to separate the great divisions of the field of observation, so that those whose tastes led them to one particular branch of inquiry might not be encumbered with other parts in which they do not feel an equal interest."
The preceding passage is contained in the notice accompanying the first work in this series--Geology, by Mr. De la Bèche, published in 1835. Thus, the second work in the series is in continuation of the plan above announced.
CONTENTS.
PART I. REQUISITES FOR OBSERVATION. Page
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