Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Marianne Weber
Harriet Martineau
Sociological "Metaphors"
"Fun" Facts
100

Gilman's most famous work, this semi-autobiographical story follows a woman's descent into madness while confined to a room by her physician husband.

What is "The Yellow Wallpaper"?

100

Marianne Weber was a primary critic of this fellow German sociologist’s theory that "Objective Culture" was inherently and exclusively male.  

Who is Georg Simmel?

100

Martineau argued that if men and women marry those they do not love, they will inevitably do this.

What is love those whom they do not marry?

100

Gilman used this piece of Victorian clothing as a symbol for how societal norms restricted women’s freedom and intellectual outlook.

What is the corset?

100

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was related to this famous author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Who is Harriet Beecher Stowe?

200

After her breakdown, Gilman was ordered to stop all intellectual activity and never again touch a pen, brush, or pencil — a treatment known by this name.

What is the "rest cure"?

200

Marianne Weber argued that this historical era allowed women to move from domestic isolation to the wage economy, fostering intellectual emancipation.

What is the Industrial Revolution (or the Machine Age)?

200

Often considered the "first woman sociologist," Martineau is famous for translating this Frenchman’s six-volume Positive Philosophy.

Who is Auguste Comte?

200

Marianne Weber used this specific metaphor to describe Max Weber’s desk after his death, signifying her devotion to his legacy.

What is an altar?

200

Marianne Weber’s marriage was complicated by the fact that her husband Max was actually this biological relation to her.

What is a second cousin (or distant cousin)?

300

Gilman was a charter member of this professional organization, which ironically had discriminated against women since its founding.

What is the American Sociological Association?

300

Marianne viewed this religious tradition as the primary influence that elevated marriage above celibacy and established the ideal of mutual responsibility.

What is Protestantism?

300

Martineau argued that marriage was often debased because it was a woman’s only choice for this type of security.

What is economic security (or financial support)?

300

Gilman used this word to describe the domestic sphere, comparing the home to a "private" version of this institution.

What is a prison?

300

After her fiancé "collapsed into insanity" and died, Harriet Martineau turned to this profession as a primary means to earn a living.

What is journalism (or writing)?

400

Gilman used the corset to argue that women were so indoctrinated by external constraints that they ultimately did this to their own freedom.

What is resist it?

400

Despite devoting her life to editing and preserving Max Weber's work, Marianne was also the first woman elected to hold this type of office in Germany.

What is a seat in parliament (or the Bavarian Assembly)?

400

Martineau's concept of "morals" — a society's collective ideals and virtues — is best captured by this modern sociological term.

What are norms (or values)?

400

Gilman argued that women's economic dependence on men was comparable to this animal, which also "enables men to produce more than they otherwise could."

What is a horse?

400

Harriet Martineau is famous for having lost these three senses by the age of 12.

What are hearing, smell, and taste?

500

In this 1915 utopian novel, Gilman imagines a society composed entirely of women who have eliminated war and poverty.

What is Herland?

500

This term describes brilliant women who dedicated their energy to building the careers of the men beside them, often at the expense of their own recognition.

What is "complicit femininity"?

500

Martineau's concept of "manners" — the observed patterns of daily habits and social association — corresponds to this modern sociological concept.

What are behaviors (or actions/practices)?

500

Albion Small argued that the "mental output" of men and women was not the same, comparing the difference to a note played on these two different instruments.

What are the cornet and the violin?

500

Rather than face a terminal illness, Charlotte Perkins Gilman decided that she preferred this to cancer.

What is suicide?

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