Harriet Martineau’s Sociology of Charity

Abstract

This paper explores Harriet Martineau’s perspectives on charity as seen in Poor Laws and Paupers Illustrated, a series written for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge and aimed at educating the public about the New Poor Laws. These perspectives reveal compelling analogies with one of the era’s most common charitable activities: the home visit. The sociological methods Martineau develops in her writing share with home visiting guides the recognition that effective observation leads to greater knowledge, and that the basis for effective observation is a balance between distance and sympathy. Analyzing the narrative form of Martineau’s stories in the context of home visits highlights her narrative realism, here rooted not in romance or gothicism, but in public debate. Martineau’s fiction shows that to reform the current charity system would require both sympathetic and impartial action.