To say women have been written out of sociology’s history suggests that although women played an important role in the development of the field, their contributions aren’t recognized or appreciated as much as the male founders of the generation. This period of time far preceded the Women’s Rights Movement and the early female “movers and shakers” in any field weren’t valued as much as their male counterparts.

These founding women had several common ideas including helping others, promoting equality, and being an active part in the study of people and their surroundings. Marianne Weber was a leading figure in the German feminist movement helping women to attain equality, Wells-Barnett headed national anti-lynching campaigns, and Jane Addams established the Hull House. Some even later collaborated to plan cooperative housing for working women. Each of these figures was focused on studying some aspect of the human situation and was a part of the movement that brought the study of sociology to where it is today.

These influential women were instrumental in the development of sociological ideas—such as sex is a social force, viewpoint is important, and the relevance of sympathetic knowledge to name a few. Sex continues to be a strong social force today with women’s salaries still falling short of a man’s with a similar position. The feminist viewpoint continues to be strongly considered in reference to society. Sympathetic knowledge and its relevance are still used today. It is even employed as a research method. Though at one point these contributions were strongly undervalued, even the existence of this particular text in chapter three of this book shows that today these contributions are strongly embraced.

Kate