Sociological Essay

This sociological essay is a summary and analysis of ‘The Sociological Imagination’ written by C. Wright Mills. The Sociological Imagination is recognised as the concept of allowing individuals to understand their relationship with oneself and the larger processes in their lives such as economic, political and social changes. C. Wright Mills wrote, “The sociological imagination enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals.” (Mills 1959: 3). The author puts forward his argument of the sociological imagination as looking outwardly rather than inside as individuals have both personal troubles and public issues. We often only take focus of the inner factors (personal troubles) and forget to take a sociological outlook on other factors, as to why it may occur (public issues).

Fundamental to the concept of sociological imagination is the idea of ‘the personal trouble of milieu’ and ‘the public issues of social structure’. Personal troubles are the troubles and complications faced by an individual. It is the theory of social imagination that allows the individual to recongise that these troubles are caused by the structure and/or failure of society. Without this, an individual is unable to overcome their troubles. In accordance, Yaniv Belhassen states; “…understanding that personal troubles cannot be resolved simply on the individual level; they must also be connected with public issues and vice versa.” (Belhassen 2007: 1081)

Public issues are problems within society that affect individual people. Moreover, the recognition of public issues is viewed as a method of resolving the personal troubles of an individual. This alludes to the fact that sociological imagination allows the individual to recongise that the cause of their troubles is the result of a broken society and there are other individuals within society that share the same problems. In