The Sociological Imagination

The Forest or the Trees

Sociology v. Common Sense

Does absence make the heart grow fonder?

Or….

Out of Sight; out of mind?

Do…

Birds of a feather flock together?

Or…

Opposites attract?

Problems:

“What ordinary men are directly aware of and what they try to do are bounded by the private orbits in which they live; their visions and their powers are limited to the close up scenes of job, family, neighborhood; in other milieu, they move vicariously and remain spectators.”

C. Wright Mills

The Sociological Imagination

What is the Sociological Imagination?

Allows us to see the relationship between the individual and society

Ability to stretch your imagination to things you may have not directly experienced or to more abstract concepts

“Verstehen”

Benefits of Sociology

Helps overcome short-sightedness Leads to “de-bunking” of faulty

information Allows us to see opportunities and

constraints in our lives Allows us to be active participants in our

world Allows us to live in a diverse in changing

world

Example:

Suicide

Emile Durkheim▪ Egoistic▪ Altruistic▪ Anomic▪ Fatalistic

Led to…

Social Facts External to the individual Have coercive power of the individual Transcend time