Society in America

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 How to Observe Manners and Morals—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.

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Seymour Martin Lipset (1922-2006) was professor emeritus of sociology at George Mason University. Among his books are American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword; North American Cultures: Values and Institutions in Canada and the United States; Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics; and Rebellion in the University. He had a long-standing interest in Israel and Jewish affairs, and was past president of the Association of American Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.