Comparing Conflict Theory to Social Control Theory

The term sociological imagination is said to have originated in 1959, with American sociologist C. Wright Mills. It refers to the number of factors in sociology that influence and shape connections between that which is remote and seemingly indirectly related on a personal level to simplistic aspects of everyday life for an individual. The idea basically implies that personal issues are projected as social problems by people in an attempt to rationalize a linkage to society. However, in employing the sociological imagination it is believed that distinctions are able to be made between the two. Take teenage pregnancy for instance (“Sociological Imagination”). Under the suggestion made by Mills, underage mothers should be able to recognize that they are not the only ones who are dealing with the same problem. This is a large-scale public concern that faces young girls in almost every community across the country. Instead of falling into a pit of guilt, sociological imagination says that they should perhaps blame the school system, their parents, or any of a number of other social forces that led to their personal dilemma. In an article by David Von Drehle published in Time magazine entitled “Finding Their Way Back to Life,” the question that was originally asked by philosophy professor Joseph Pitt is reiterated: Can Blacksburg, Virginia residents ever return to a life of unlocked doors? (p. 44). This comes after the shocking incident that took place on April 16th of 2007 where a young South Korean student opened fire on the Virginia Tech campus, killing thirty-two innocent people in two separate attacks before taking his own life. This horrific event directly affects a vast majority of Blacksburg’s relatively small population not to mention the families of victims that may very well reside in other communities throughout Virginia and even across the country (Von Drehle 44). Indirectly, however, the controversy surrounding gun control has been tossed back onto the

Cited: "Sociological Imagination." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2007. Wikimedia Foundation. 19 May 2007 . Von Drehle, David. "Finding Their Way Back to Life." Time Life Magazine Vol. 169, Iss. 19. 7 May 2007: p. 44.