Analysis Of The Promise Of Sociology Imagination By C. Wright Mills

After reading C. Wright Mills, The Promise of Sociology Imagination, it is clear that most people feel trapped in their personal lives. They feel trapped because they are becoming more aware of all the problems in the world and the problems of the people in their close environment. The more aware they become the more trapped they feel by society. Society has shaped them to think that they have limited choices in this world. They feel as if they cannot overcome their personal challenges. Biography, is what we go through personally. This shapes us as individuals. Whereas history shapes who we are as a society. Society would be different if history did not play out the way it did. Both are different but critical to the way people fit into society.

This is where the sociological imagination plays a key role in our lives.

There is a huge difference between personal troubles and public issues. Personal troubles are a private matter that only affects one person, while public issues affect a whole group of people. When the Great Depression happened people thought they were not getting jobs because of something they did. What they did not know was that it was a public issue because the unemployment rate was already extremely high. When individuals experience the things they value being threatened they go into a state of panic. Having this feeling of threat in their minds about the values that they cherish makes them anxious. Society makes people feel that there values are in danger. If they do not feel threatened, they experience a state of being comfortable. The sociological imagination can help us to broaden our spectrum and look at the big picture of things, we need to be aware of our changing society even though it is hard for some people to acknowledge that