The Sociological Imagination By C. Wright Mills

In this article, C.W.Mills places great emphasis on “sociological imagination”, which is the ability that “enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals.” (C.W.Mills in Readings in Sociology ( pg.15)). He describes men lacking the ability to see beyond the troubles within his immediate environment, afflicted with feelings of entrapment in a situation with no one but themselves to blame. Sociological imagination allows an individual to recognize that social forces exist that are outside of his control and their effects on his personal life. The article provides examples of social forces and issues in society such as unemployment,

Every person has their own social circle and in this circle contains every aspect of their daily lives. Often times, people feel stuck in this social circle and fear the unknown. This fear stops people from fully understanding their position in this world and in history. C. Wright Mills encourages the use of the sociological imagination to help the personal and public lives of individuals.

The Sociological Imagination is an idea introduced by C Wright Mills. This imagination “enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals” (Mills 5). This is understood to mean that whoever has this ability can understand not only their own current living conditions and those of the area around them. These people can also compare these present-day conditions with the past conditions and how the area is both similar and different physically, socially and historically from how it had been.

Chapter one of The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills to me is saying that as an individual we feel pressured by society. With that being said, being aware of sociological imagination allows everyday people to make connections between an individual and society. In the second paragraph of the chapter it states, “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.” That quote means, to me, that without having an understanding of yourself as an individual, you will not be able to understand your role in a society. People feel like they have to be a certain way, and like certain things all because that is the norm nowadays. Most people feel like they have to be in shape, or that

Every day, we are surrounded by people who are fighting a constant battle in order to survive and make ends meet. However, society tends to overlook these people, as if they were an “invisible minority”. In order to recognize the influence of society forces on our personal lives, C. Wright Mills created a concept known as sociological imagination, which allows people to become aware of the relationship between personal experiences and the larger society (1959, 1). With sociological imagination, we can view the problem as a trouble or as an issue. Troubles occur from an individual perspective, within the character and within his or her immediate social relations. On the other hand, issues arrive from a societal perspective, which are caused by society’s history and institutions and are way beyond the individual’s control (Hironimus-Wendt and Wallace 2009, 76-77).

Mills begins to describe the sociological imagination by introducing the discipline of sociology as how individuals are influenced and changed by their environments and societies, either by other individuals within the society or circumstances that affect it as a whole such as war. He also states that people become trapped in their own lives as spectators because they do not have sociological imaginations that allow them to realize this basic fact. Had they trained themselves in the sociological discipline, they would be able to see this “big picture”, allowing them to correctly discover their true selves and what they are capable of. The sociological imagination makes this possible by giving the possessor the tools to recognize the effect

According to C. Wright Mills, the sociological imagination is the concept that allows an individual to comprehend the bigger picture of their own lives and their role in society, as well as develop a better sense of others’ lives. Being able to do this allows that individual to have a better understanding of history and the society as a whole (Henslin, 2014, pp. 2-3). With this we have the ability to analyze society and deciphering a way to solve current important issues. “Mills referred to people’s experiences within a specific historical setting, which gives them their orientations to life” (Henslin, p. 3) .Basically Mills is saying that the effects of historical change are what determines an individual’s position or direction in their life. People frequently take the effects of historical change and social movements too lightly; they do not think about how the historical change and social change affects their well-being and assume that they have more control over the course of their lives than they actually do. The historical period in which we live when examining personal experience is important because it allows us to get where we are going in life. “History, with its inevitable selection of facts, the problems of interest and bias, the changing frameworks of interpretation, is in fact ‘one of the most theoretical of the human disciplines’” (Scott & Nilsen , 2012, p. 34). What I believe was meant by this is that , because history has a never ending assortment of factual

1. I believe C. Wright Mills’ sociological imagination meant that you have to imagine a person does certain things based upon that person’s upbringing and past social interactions. Sociologists need to be able to see how the influences of society affected such as the culture, social norms, their beliefs, and circumstances caused the the person's decisions and actions.

Sociological imagination according to C. Wright Mills (1959) “enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals” (p.5) Mills in this book of The Sociological Imagination explains how society shapes the people. Mills wants people to be able to use sociological imagination to see things in a sociology point of view, so they can know the difference between personal troubles versus personal issues. Personal troubles and public issues help understand the historical and social structures. Personal troubles are within the person’s private life in which the person may feel threatened to share with others (p.8). Personal issues affect everyone because its consider being a “public matter” it affects not only the person but society.

According to Mills, sociology should be about examining the biography of an individual in a wider context of history of societies (Mills, 2000). Sociologists must consider the major institutions of society, not only the personal situation and character of a range of individuals. Sociological imagination allows us to grasp history and biography, examine them together and separately, and their relation in a society.

Charles Wright Mills was an American sociologist and a professor at Columbia University. Mills was widely published in intellectual journals, and he wrote several books. Among them were: The Power Elite, White Collar, and The Sociological Imagination. In 1964, the society for the study of social problems established the C. Wright Mills award. This award was for his outstanding social science research and amazing understanding of the individual and society. He believed that knowledge was the crucial element to social changes. Charles was certain that society needed to change and that change would come through those who had the knowledge and used it properly. He believed that critical thinking was the way to obtain knowledge. Charles is known for given the best description of sociological perspective as he calls it the “sociological imagination”. According to Mills, “The sociological imagination enables us to go grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within a society” In other words, individuals’ future partially depends on larger forces in society. Mills believes that we don’t get to choose the condition under which we live, but we do have choices about how we respond

There are two considerable points regarding the sociology of C. Wright Mills, before exploring his sociology. Firstly, he is the sociologist of the 20th century who wrote within the classical traditions of the sociology. This means that he attempted an interpretive analysis of the overall system of sociology and he based his analysis on the empirical evidence and the overall worldview. Additionally, he wrote regarding the problems and issues that don’t just matter to the sociologists but also matter to the people, and he wrote about them in order to take our understanding further. Mills wrote about the development if the white collar jobs from the non-classical perspective. He additionally wrote how these white collar jobs have impacted the other aspects of the society and also how these jobs have determined the perceptions of the people holding them. He wrote about the development in the scope and size of the bureaucratic power in the society, how it has impacted those who hold it and those subjecting to it and how this development impacts the traditional democratic sectors.

B) The film clip “Working Poor “gives us an inside look at how poor families live, and shows us how some families are living below poverty line barely affording the rent payments, car payments, etc. and how some families barely can afford to put food on the table for their loved ones and how some of these families can’t afford to pay for transportation and have to walk to work and don’t have any other way of going from a place to place. It even shows us how some of these families have to take out a loan so they can afford to pay the rent each month. It also shows how

To be quite frank, I always thought I was ordinary. I never really put much thought, nor understood the deeper meaning as to why I have always acted a certain way, talked a certain way, or even made choices for a certain reason. Of course I have always known that these could be attributed to the way I was socialized as a child, but I never thought deeper into how my actions, beliefs, and values played into this bigger picture of society. To this day, the biggest decision I have ever made in my life has been deciding to go to university, but I never really dwelled on the concept of “Why?”

C Wright Mills is a respected sociologist who is well known for making Max Weber’s ideologies popular within the United States. Many of his published works and his ideas are still widely used today by understanding society in its present form. He wrote “The Sociological Imagination” that was published in 1959, and part of that work emphasized on the history and biography in a sociological context.