Society in America

<p>Harriet Martineau brought to her observations the convictions of a vehement English liberal and an astonishingly modern sociological approach. In 1834 she wrote the first draft of <i>How to Observe Manners and Morals</i>--perhaps the earliest book on the methodology of social research. In abridging the 800-page original for the modern reader Lipset has concentrated on Martineau's brilliant discussion of religious practices social status and childrearing; political apathy and the position of women blacks and immigrants; and the American's casual approach to indebtedness and his speculative wealth-or-ruin schemes.</p>