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C. Wright Mills. C. The Sociological Imagination. C. Wright Mills. August 28, 1916 – March 20, 1962 Political Sociologist The New Men of Power: America's Labor Leaders (1948) White Collar: The American Middle Classes (1951) The Power Elite (1956) The Sociological Imagination (1959).
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C. Wright Mills C The Sociological Imagination
C. Wright Mills August 28, 1916 – March 20, 1962 Political Sociologist The New Men of Power: America's Labor Leaders (1948) White Collar: The American Middle Classes (1951) The Power Elite (1956) The Sociological Imagination (1959)
The Sociological Imagination " No social study that does not come back to the problem of biography, of history and of their interactions within a society has completed its intellectual journey." Mills-p.3
Mills' Three Questions Q. 1) What is the structure of this particular society as a whole? Q. 2) Where does this society stand in human history? Q. 3) What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and in this period?
Troubles & Issues Connecting the micro and macro
ISSUES • “ Issues have to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of her inner life. . • They have to do with the organization of many such milieu into the institutions of an historical society as a whole, with the ways in which various milieux overlap and interpenetrate to form the larger structure of social and historical life. .. • An issue is a public matter: some value cherished by publics is felt to be threatened. An issue, in fact, often involves a crisis in institutional arrangements, and often too it involves what Marxists call 'contradictions' or 'antagonisms.‘”
Troubles • “Troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his or her immediate relations with others; • they have to do with one's self and with those limited areas of social life of which one is directly and personally aware…. • A trouble is a private matter: values cherished by an individual are felt by her to be threatened.”
Private Troubles An unemployed 61 year man discovers that he has cancer. A low income single mother of three discovers that she has type II diabetes. A young husband and father receives a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
Private Troubles A 42 year old first time mother–to-be discovers the child she is about to deliver will be profoundly handicapped. A young husband and father receives a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
Private Troubles A pediatrician works at a community clinic in a lower income area of a major city. One of her biggest concerns is the increasing number of obese pediatric patients she is seeing. She notices that many of the parents appear overweight and have a family history of diabetes.
Private Troubles An immigrant worker falls from a ladder and appears to have broken his arm. He refuses to go to the hospital and his employer tells him to go home.
Private Troubles A high school boy asks his doctor about getting a prescription for ADHD medication even though he shows no evidence of the disorder. A man, who has been stopped a number of times by the police for aggressive driving, gets a prescription for medication for “road rage”, a now recognized psychiatric condition.