essay 3

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Recommended: C. wright millsthe sociological imagination

If we look at sociology in general, it is a study of society and human behavior. However, to be able to understand it in deeper sense we need to understand humans itself and how they interact with one another in a crowd. This involves observing humans in a micro (individual itself) and a macro level (how an individual interacts with government, family and other social institutions. As we all know, the great sociologist, C. Wright Mills defined the term “Sociological Imagination” which helps us understand the connection between individual and sociological demographics along with the history and biography. Another famous sociologist named W. E. B. DuBois wrote a book “Souls of Black Folks” where he explained the struggles of black people in the United States during The Civil War. I believe that the concept of Sociological Imagination and Idea of Double Consciousness are very intertwined with each other and can be synced to explain many behaviors of our society.
Mills starts off the chapter by talking about how an average individual is bounded by a “private orbits” in which they live. Their opinions, actions and influences are limited to their individual orbit or a closed box. Many of us are unable to see the bigger picture of why we are the way we are. Mills explains we live our daily life thinking we have a total control of our lives but in fact, it’s not us who controls our lives, it’s the society and its historical events that do. (Mills 1959, 1) He thinks that in order for individuals to understand this concept, they do not need more information or detail. Instead they need a quality of mind to be able to best interpret the information and be able to understand how the world events effecting their individual lives. (Mills 19...

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...my situation was related to the situation of the whole society. I was not able to find a job only because of the downfall of job market. Realizing this made me feel a lot better that I am not the only one suffering and there are others out there who are in the same boat as me.
I believe that the sociological imagination and double consciousness are a much related concepts. Dubois talks about how he feels that the African Americans belong to the veil and the ones that are not part of it are the ones which are the whites. This is the same idea of Mills when he says that we feel trapped and are not able to get out of our man made bubble of life. We look at every situation in life this exact same way, where we let the current events, outside world, society, government and many more institutions take part on our personal imagination of who we are as an individual.

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