Between Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Harriet Martineau:

from the critique of travel reports to methodological insight

Abstract

In this article, we aim to highlight Rousseau's critical response to the travel reports that emerged from the great navigations, which described the manners of the most distant populations. Such criticism develops in a timid way up to the 18th century, until it culminates in the method proposed by the sociologist Harriet Martineau in the beginning of the 19th century. Starting from this problematization, we aim to answer the questions: what does it take to observe and describe the manners of the other? How to perform this role when we are dealing with very different manners, related to distant populations? To this purpose, we will enter into dialogue with the criticisms and questionings of the travel accounts proffered by Rousseau, suggesting certain research possibilities. However, it is Martineau who proposes the most complete experimental project for the observation and description of morals and manners. We understand that from his perspective, this practice was able to develop more comprehensively, which also contributed to the methodological development of the social sciences.