C. Wright Mills Sociological Imagination

Sociological imagination is the ability to think out of the box by factoring in both society and the individual. The purpose of this essay is to explore the idea of Sociological Imagination that was developed by sociologist C. Wright Mills and apply it to understanding what influences people in their society to steal. This essay will also explain what socialization is, how it helps individuals fit into their society, and how people develop a sociological imagination.

C. Wright Mills Sociological Imagination

Sociologist C. Wright Mills developed Sociological Imagination, which is the ability to see the defects that sociological issues can have on our private lives(Newman, 14). Sociological Imagination helps us broaden our

There’s an expression, “you have to do what you have to do to survive”, and when you’re jobless with three mouths to feed desperate measures may be taken. If the unemployment rate in your society is high it may be hard for one to find a job. If one cannot find a job, they have no income and may not be able to afford to feed their family. Unemployment rates may skyrocket due to a bad economy and a time period of financial depression. At large quantites in society, unemployment is a social factor that can make people feel desperate. In desperation, people may have to do things even if it’s against their morals to get by. For example, let’s say you work at Hannaford’s Grocery Store as a security monitor. You see a woman put a couple boxes of inexpensive food in her cart but you also see her slip expensive children’s medicine into her purse. It does appear that she’s stealing, but you also see that she has an infant with her. The mother pays for the boxes of food because that’s all she can afford. If we analyze this situation we can see that the medicine is for the infant, and the mother cannot afford to buy it for her sick child. However the mother does give what little she has towards her food most likely because of guilt. The mother feels guilty but she isn’t going to let her child remain in poor health. Desperation may force people to go against their morals. Stealing medicine, food, diapers and other important items from grocery stores to

Social standards are the “norms” that society around us sets. For example, in the fall white girls get pumpkin spice lattes and everyone has either the newest Galaxy or iPhone. There’s the in-style products and must-haves that everyone literally, just must have. People conform to these social standards because let’s face it, we all just want to fit in. These social standards can make heavier girls become anorexic, brown haired girls dye their hair blonde and tom-girls join the cheerleading squad. They can also make normal everyday people steal a new pair of Ugg Boots from Shoe Depot because everyone else has them but you. People will do anything to fit into society. They try to dress alike, act alike and do things alike. Although these individuals may not be poor and need to steal to survive, they may not be able to afford to be in the middle to high financial class and steal items to project the same image. These people steal for luxury not for