C. Wright Mills (1916 - 1962)
The sociological imagination –
lecture outline

 C. Wright Mills
 Personal causes and social causes
 Personal solutions and social solutions
The sociological imagination –
lecture outline

 C. Wright Mills
 Personal causes and social causes
 Personal solutions and social solutions
C. Wright Mills

 Following C. Wright Mills, sociologists refer to
breaking free from the immediacy of personal
circumstances and putting things in a wider social
context as the sociological imagination.
 Mills talks about unemployment and divorce to show
that what happens to individuals and what they do
are conditioned by their social surroundings.
 Discussion: How has romantic love has been shaped
by social and historical forces
Personal troubles and public issues

 Sociologists recognize that “personal” troubles, if
occurring in patterned ways, to large numbers of
individuals, reflect important public issues—
consequences of social structures.
 Example of a public issue: In the midst of an economic
crisis, when foreclosures have become a common
feature in the country in response, Jenna and her
family lose their home because her parents can no
longer pay the mortgage.
The sociological imagination –
lecture outline

 C. Wright Mills
 Personal causes and social causes
 Personal solutions and social solutions
Personal causes and social causes

 Personal causes and social causes
 Personal causes are those causes related the individual
 Social causes are those causes external to the individual
 Americans tend to prefer personal explanations and
personal solutions (see next slide)
 The sociological imagination requires us to see that our
problems have personal as well as social causes
 If we were to apply the sociological imagination to the
problems that you or I have, we could not say that we are
completely to blame for our problems
“Why are there people in this
country who live in need?”

World
values
survey
(1994)
Personal causes and social causes
-- Discussion

Think about divorce.
What are the personal causes of divorce?
What are the social causes of divorce?
Think about poverty and unemployment.
What are the personal causes of poverty?
What are the social causes of poverty?
The sociological imagination –
lecture outline

 C. Wright Mills
 Personal causes and social causes
 Personal solutions and social solutions
Personal solutions and social solutions

 Personal solutions and social solutions
 Personal solutions attempt to fix the individual
 E.g., welfare reform
 Social solutions attempt to fix society
 E.g., changing divorce laws
State Waiting Periods and Divorce Rates, 2008
Personal causes and social causes
-- Discussion

Think about divorce.
What are some personal solutions?
What are some social solutions?
Think about poverty and unemployment.
What are some personal solutions?
What are some social solutions?
The sociological imagination –
lecture outline

 C. Wright Mills
 Personal causes and social causes
 Personal solutions and social solutions
Check for understanding practice question

 In the midst of an economic crisis, when foreclosures have
become a common feature in the country in response, Jenna and
her family lose their home because her parents can no longer
pay the mortgage. Jenna would be using a sociological
imagination to think about this if she were to:
 blame her mother for not working hard enough
 wonder why her father does not just find a new job
 consider how it might be strange that we live in a world
that allows people to be thrown out of their homes
 think about ways she can contribute financially to buying
their house back
 ponder how she might find employment to avoid having
the same problems her parents are having in a bad economy
The Sociological Imagination -Activity

 Go to activity on website.