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C. Wright Mills

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

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  1. C. Wright Mills C The Sociological Imagination

  2. 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)

  3. Mills’ Biography • Graduated from the University of Texas at Austin (1939) • Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1941) • Taught Briefly at the University of Maryland, College Park • 1945 moved Columbia University’s Bureau of Applied Social Research

  4. The Sociological Imagination1959 Classical timelessness “ Surely it is no wonder. In what period have so many people been so totally exposed at so fast a pace to such earthquakes of change?” (Unfortunately) Timeless examples: Consider war.. Marriage…the metropolis…the economy Interesting pronoun use

  5. Four Key concepts • The First Fruit of the Sociological Imagination 2) The Three Questions 3) Troubles and Issues 4)Values and Threats

  6. 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

  7. The "First Fruit" of using the Sociological Imagination “The idea that the individual can understand her own experience and gauge her own fate only by locating herself within her period, that she can know her own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in her circumstances."

  8. 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?

  9. Q. 1) What is the structure of this particular society as a whole? • What are its essential components and how are they related to one another? ◘ • How does it differ from other varieties of social order? ◘ • Within it, what is the meaning of any particular feature for its continuance and for its change?

  10. Q. 2) Where does this society stand in human history? • What are the mechanics by which it is changing? ◘ • And this period - what are its essential features? ◘ • How does it differ from other periods?

  11. Q. 3) What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and in this period? • And what varieties are coming to prevail? ◘ • In what ways are they selected and formed, liberated and repressed, made sensitive and blunted? ◘ • What kinds of `human nature' are revealed in the conduct and character we observe in this society in this period?

  12. Troubles & Issues   Connecting the micro and macro

  13. 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.”

  14. 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.‘”

  15. John loses his job Personal trouble ?  Public Issue?  Downsizing Outsourcing Business decline Local economic downturn National economic downturn Global economic shift • Lazy • Lack of skills? • No degree?  • Bad luck • Bad worker?

  16. Maria’s parents divorce Personal trouble ?  Public Issue?  Economic problems in the larger society put extreme pressure on the family Employers demand more and more hours on the job Societal mobility results in no family or close friends near by to help with childcare Lack of health and home care support in illness • Personality differences? • Incompatibilities? • One or the other’s fault?

  17. Ryan is a stressed out college student Personal trouble ?  Public Issues? • Working too many hours at a job? • Not a "good" student? • Not interested? • Not academically prepared ? • Too much time socializing? • Too much time commuting?

  18. VALUES & THREATS  

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