Sociological Imagination Research Paper

Sociological Imagination is a term to describe the relation between personal and historical forces. Sociologist C. Wright Mills suggests that the meaning of the word enables people to distinguish the link between personal troubles and public issues. It is suggested that an individual should look at their own personal problems as social issues, and work on connecting the two to formulate an answer. Today men frequently feel trapped by their personal, private lives. Men are known to be weak when it comes down to overcoming troubles. The male, is said to be directly conscious of their problems, and as they become more and more aware of them they feel more trapped. Beneath this sense of being trapped lies a structure of society. When there
is a change in society there is a change in man, a failure in history could mean a fall or rise for mankind. An example, as an area becomes industrialized, and slave becomes a worker. Without the understanding of society and individuals, their can be no sociological imagination. Men are unaware of this relationship between man and society therefore men can not cope with personal troubles, or the issues behind them. World history affects everyman.
In a single generation, much of man has been revolutionized. The constant change in history affects men and their prized values. Men are so focused on their personal lives remaining private that they lose touch and can no longer understand the significance of their own life. The answer to this problem is not so much facts or information, but being able to have a sociological imagination. The sociological imagination helps to understand what is truly going on. It enables us to read between the lines, to see the correlation between private and social life.
Having this sociological mind set allows one to observe personal troubles with public issues. If one can locate himself in his own time period, he will understand his life experience. This can be a lesson of either good or bad. The use of the sociological imagination makes it possible to discover the relation with life's stories and history. Many social analysts look to three key questions to answer the question of the task and its promise. (1) Finding the organization of the society, being able to identify the two problems, and relating them to each other. How the components or the questions asked differ from other forms of society, such as other areas, organizations, groups, or a time period. Then one must look for the reason behind the change. (2) Researching the era in which the society itself has taken place and the find what is directly being changed. One asking these questions must look into the time period, the difference of this particular time compared to others and the reason for its growth. (3) Find the cultures, and type of men and women that rouse in the society, their accomplishments. The analyst must ask the kinds of human nature within the society, how it is used and by what
characters.
These are the kind of questions raised by a mind with a sociological imagination. A sociological imagination must be able to shift perspectives, this allows the mind to open closed doors and uncover the relation the two perspectives hold. A tool for the imagination is the "personal troubles of milieu" and "the public issues of social structure". Troubles for one are in close relation with that particular individual, which they are normally aware of. Private matters affect mainly the individual while issues on the other hand deal with local areas and the public. For example, marriage can be a personal trouble. The problems within the relationship itself are personal. Yet the amount of divorces out of a given number can be a structural issue. Mill's sociological imagination is all about looking behind what are the known and asking questions. One must learn and understand the social forces their own lives. History and society is what shapes mankind, and mankind shapes history and society. The sociological imagination enables us to understand the influence of society.