September
th
7
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Attendance & Questions
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SL forms
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Lecture One – Sociological Imagination
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Exercise: Using the Sociological Imagination in Our
Lives
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Homework:
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Glassner, Barry The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid
of the Wrong Things, Introduction (CR)
The Sociological
Imagination
Lecture One
Journal Writing Guidelines:
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Focus on explaining ideas, events, feelings
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Tell me why you feel/respond/behave the way you do
Don’t use “mushy” words/phrases
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“It makes me sad…”
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Explore the things that make you feel uncomfortable
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Be thoughtful and honest…make the most of the
opportunity to reflect on your life and the world
around you
Journal Entry #1
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What is the sociological imagination? Explain.
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According to Mills, why do we want to have a
sociological imagination?
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Do you ever feel indifferent (apathy)? About what
things? Why or why not? Explain.
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Do you currently feel an uneasiness (anxiety) about
issues in your own community? If so, what are they?
Explain why?
Coming Down from the Ivory Tower
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Public Sociology: connecting sociological
study with civil society
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Social justice
Human rights
Economic, cultural, and political equality
"I try to be objective. I do not claim to be
detached." - C. Wright Mills
The Origins of Sociology
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The sociological discipline emerged at the
end of the 19th C as a response to the
dramatically changing world
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Scientific Revolution
Democratic Revolution
Industrial Revolution
Sociology emerged to solve the social
puzzles of the industrial and modern era
According to Mills, what is the
PROMISE of sociology?
The task of sociology is to…
 To turn indifference (apathy) and uneasiness
(anxiety) into well-being
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But, how does sociology do that?
C Wright Mills: Sociological Imagination
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A quality of mind that allows us to connect:
“Personal troubles of the milieux”
(biography)
with
“Public issues of social structure”
(history)
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Examining these relationships gives us the
knowledge to understand society, our place in it,
and the ability to make changes
HIV/AIDS Globally
Understanding and Explaining HIV/AIDS
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Cultural Explanations
 Virility is strongly linked to masculinity in many cultures affected
by HIV/AIDS
 Low status of women
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Social Structure Explanations
 Global poverty and inequality create low immune systems
 Underdevelopment limits economic opportunities
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Political Explanations
 Lack of adequate health care and access to treatment
 Political policies that do not address the issue
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Individual Explanations
 Lack of education and poor choices
Relating Issues and Troubles
“The first fruit of this imagination – and the first
lesson of the social science that embodies it
– is the idea that the individual can
understand his own experience and gauge
his own fate only by locating himself within
his period, that he can know his own chances
in life by becoming aware of those of all
individuals in his circumstances.”
Exercise: Using the Sociological
Imagination in Our Lives