Argument On Sociological Imagination

The concept of sociological imaginations allows us to get out of one's own judgment zone with regards to how we think about social problems. C. Wright Mills argument is that we should develop a method or a way of looking at things in the society from the point of view of the person experiencing the sociological phenomenon. In essence, we cannot look at things from one's own moral point of view; we need to look at things from the point of view of the person experiencing it. Mills believes that cannot understand themselves as individuals; also they cannot understand their role and their perspectives as individuals in the society. We need to know the structure of the society, where one's current society stand in the development of human history and what varieties of men and women prevail in one's society. Linking one’s personal life to the social structure is using your sociological imagination.

Mills, also argued that individual sees their lives as a trap and that one cannot understand the life of an individual without also understanding the history of society. They do not possess the quality of mind to grasp the interplay of a different society and history of one’s self. They cannot cope and withstand their troubles in such ways as to control the structural transformations that usually lie behind them. They do not usually define the troubles they endure in terms of historical development and institutional contradiction. They do not usually impute to the big ups and downs of the societies in which they live. The very shaping of history now outpaces the ability of people to orient themselves in accordance with cherished values. However, C. Wright Mills then offers his solution that the way we see the world around us can help us...

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...e and how to make money from the war. However, the public issues of war are the effect on economic, political family and religious organizations. The person is powerless to prevent war. Another example is marriage. Inside marriage, there can be personal troubles. However, when the divorce rate in the first four years is 250 out of every 1000 marriages, this becomes a public issue having to do with the institution of society and the stress they place on married couples. The last example Mills gave is the metropolis; living in a city can be a personal trouble or challenge. However, designing and managing the city is a public issue, and that is how personal trouble gets solved is through better designs and management of major cities. Structural changes in milieu and organization more complex, more stress and understanding these things require sociological imaginations.