Definition of the Sociological
Imagination and Overview of the Book
The sociological imagination is the practice of being able to “think ourselves
away” from the familiar routines of our daily lives to look at them with fresh,
critical eyes.
Sociologist C. Wright Mills, who created the concept and wrote the definitive
book about it, defined the sociological imagination as “the vivid awareness of the
relationship between experience and the wider society."
The sociological imagination is the ability to see things socially and how they
interact and influence each other. To have a sociological imagination, a person
must be able to pull away from the situation and think from an alternative point
of view. This ability is central to one's development of a sociological perspective
on the world.
In The Sociological Imagination, published in 1959, Mills' goal was to try to
reconcile two different and abstract concepts of social reality—the "individual"
and "society."
In doing so, Mills challenged the dominant ideas within sociology and critiqued
some of the most basic terms and definitions.
While Mills’s work was not well received at the time as a result of his professional
and personal reputation—he had a combative personality—The Sociological
Imagination is today one of the most widely read sociology books and is a staple
of undergraduate sociology courses across the United States.
Mills opens with a critique of then-current trends in sociology, then goes on to
explain sociology as he sees it: a necessary political and historical profession.
The focus of his critique was the fact that academic sociologists at that time often
played a role in supporting elitist attitudes and ideas, and in reproducing an
unjust status quo.