Through an examination in each chapter of the writings that best illustrate her sociological perspective, this book examines Martineau's efforts to develop a 'scientific' approach to understanding social and societal change, thus demonstrating her enduring contribution and continuing relevance to sociology.

Stuart Hobday is a doctoral researcher in the Department of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia and the author of Encounters with Harriet Martineau.

Gaby Weiner has held a number of professorial and honorary research positions in the UK and Sweden. Her publications include Feminisms in Education, Closing the Gender Gap: Postwar Educational and Social Change, Kids in Cyberspace, Reconstructing and Deconstructing Lives, Tales of Loving and Leaving, and Harriet Martineau and the Birth of the Disciplines.