Max Weber and Harriet Martineau in physical education: Nuances of historical parallelism and gender bias in the sociological method

Abstract

Physical education has been constituted in a complex scenario, and despite this epistemological debate, we can find the existence of a “sociology of sport,” a relatively recent field of study dominated by names such as Karl Marx, Norbert Elias, Pierre Bourdieu, and Michel Foucault, while the name of Max Weber and Harriet Martineau, the first woman sociologist, is absent of research in the “sociology of sport.” This article aims to explore two possible phenomena to explain this failure: Historical parallelism and gender bias. This research applies the bibliographic method with a descriptive approach, based on the works of Max Weber and Harriet Martineau, including supporting theoretical references. As the main result, Weber considered sociology as a science that seeks to interpretively understand social action and explain it causally in its course and effects. According to Weber, scientists must be skilled in separating judgments of reality (what is) and judgments of value (what ought to be) in scientific analysis, to pursue genuine knowledge, and he organized his sociological analysis method based on two main tools: (1) Ideal types and (2) types of social action. Temporarily before Weber, Martineau (1802 – 1876) pointed to aspects related to the observation process, and provided examples related to the different classifications of what Weber referred to as “social action.” She emphasized the need to engage with the people and groups from which one seeks to gather information, and two elements stand out: (1) The recommendation to study things, using people’s discourse as if it was a commentary on them and (2) the occasional need to distance oneself a little to have a more accurate view of the phenomenon. Martineau provided relevant indications regarding the recording of facts, previously to Weber. In conclusion, it is expected that researchers from different areas, including physical education, who employ research methods from the social sciences, field diary observations, and interviews, can appropriate what was previously produced before Max Weber, in this case, by Harriet Martineau.