The Sociological Imagination And Quality Of Mind By C. Wright Mills

According to C. Wright Mills, the sociological imagination sees how the unique historical circumstances of a particular society affect people and, at the same time, seeing how people affect history. I compare Mills’ sociological imagination and “quality of mind” to the steps needed to properly perform an experiment. In order to conduct an experiment, we must first observe- analyzing our environment; then, we must formulate questions relating to the observation, which helps us probe deeper finding out more about ourselves through our history and interactions with others. Now, after the hypothesis, we conduct our experiment, which helps us concisely break down the elements that contribute to who we are as people, but this is filled with trial and error. In the end, the conclusion does not really matter because your experiment never ceases, it continues to grow because of new, meaningful inquisitions, we form about ourselves, our position in society, and our contribution to the world around us. This entire process started with an observation that gave definition for more unseen complexities that give insight about the individual, and more broadly to the public and how both relate.

I feel that because we stand on the shoulders, we are further evolving their practices to make unique contributions to society, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Mills` describes troubles as personal matters that occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others. Mills` goes on to describe issues as a public matter that has to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of his inner life. For example, in a city of 100,000 and only one man is unemployed that`s a personal trouble, but in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million are unemployed this is a public