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“We need to cultivate the imagination,for those who lack an imagination

cannot know what is lacking.”

-Vijay Prashad

Our goal hereis for us to learn

what cannot be taught;to learn what can only be grown

within us, by us,through our own engagement,

experience, and reflectionwithin and on our own realities.

If you believe yourself incapable

of keeping an open mind,

or you don’t want to

think more criticallyabout our culture(s) and the

institutions that dominate our lives,

please drop the class.Don’t waste our time or yours.

The

Sociological Imagination

Let us imagine a traffic jam…

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What is Sociology?

Sociology

Systematic study of human societies.

YOU SHOULD WRITE THIS DOWN

OR MAKE SURE YOU GET IT FROMTHE WEB SITE

“Sociologists questionwhat most otherstake for grantedabout society.”

-Dalton Conley

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Why is Sociology important?

Sociological thinking can help us better understand society, how we fit into it, how it shapes us,

and how we can change it.

Sociological thinking—developing a sociological imagination—

is super powerful,in my opinion.

“The general population doesn’t know what’s

happening, and it doesn’t even know that

it doesn’t know.”-Noam Chomsky

Let us startwith an easy question:

Why are you here?“Thinking like a sociologist means

making the familiar strange.”

-Dalton Conley

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Sociology won’tgive you all the answers.

But it willhelp you ask the right questions.

TIME TO READ!

C. Wright MillsThe Sociological Imagination

Reading is not about perfect understanding;

reading is about learning.

Also:You will get out of this classas much as you put into it.

Remember, the most important lesson of this class cannot be taught; it can only be grown

within you, by you.

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How Are We Going To Do This?• Please complete this first reading on your own• Please do all of the following:

– Read the entire text for Wednesday’s seminar discussion– Annotate the entire text

• What does “annotate” mean?

– Write a 5-sentence summary of the text• Write this on the back of the text itself (exactly 5 sentences!)• Within your summary be sure to paraphrase Mills’ definition of

a sociological imagination

– Write at least 3 discussion questions for our seminar• Again, write these on the text (these will be part of your

annotations)

• This must all be completed prior to Thursday’s seminar. I will not accept any of this late; it is important to be prepared for our discussion.

The Sociological Imagination

• Annotations

• Summaries

• Questions

• How does C. Wright Mills define a Sociological Imagination?

• Milieu or Milieux

–Cultural surroundings or cultural context or environment

“Neither the life of an individualnor the history of society

can be understoodwithout understanding both.”

“The Sociological Imagination” defined:

• “A quality of mind that will help [people] use information and develop reason in order to achieve lucid summations of what is going on in the world and what may be happening within themselves.”

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“The first fruit of this imagination…is the idea that the individual can

understand [their] own experience and gauge [their] own fate only by locating [themselves] within [their] period, that [they] can know [their]

own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all

individuals in [their] circumstance.”

“In many ways it is a terrible lesson; in many ways a magnificent one.”

“By the fact of [your] living [you contribute], however minutely, to the shaping of this society and to the course of its history, even as

[you are] made by society and by its historical push and shove.”

Intersection of Biography and History

“The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations

between the two within society.

That is its task and its promise.”

Personal Troubles vs. Public Issues

Examples?

Personal TroubleOr

Public Issue?

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Smoking Related Deaths in the US

• More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.

Smoking Related Deaths in the US

• Cigarette smoking is responsible for around 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including nearly 42,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about 1,300 deaths every day.

• On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.

Smoking Related Deaths in the US

• If smoking continues at the current rate among U.S. youth, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 years of age are expected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness. This represents about 1 in every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger who are alive today.

– Data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Personal trouble or public issue?

“The first wisdom of sociology is this:things are not what they seem.”

-Peter Berger, 1963

“It's easier to fool people than to convince

them that they have been fooled.”

-???

Some might say, what we are striving for with sociology, as Marx

put it in 1843, is “a ruthless criticismof all that exists, ruthless both in

the sense of not being afraid of the results it arrives at and in the sense

of being just as little afraid of conflict with the powers that be.”

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Sociology is also about understanding power.

What is power?

The Three Dimensions of Powera theory from Steven Lukes

• First Dimension

– the capacity to make someone do something they would not otherwise do

– “A” has power over “B” because “A” has superior resources

– we generally accept that these people have power and have the authority to wield it

The Three Dimensions of Powera theory from Steven Lukes

• Second Dimension

– the agenda-setting dimension where the “rules of the game” are made

– “A” has power over “B” because “A” sets the agenda and establishes the rules by which everyone plays

– this can be hard to see because rules seem detached from the relations of power that produce them

– getting to write – and enforce – the rules we must live by is extremely powerful

The Three Dimensions of Powera theory from Steven Lukes

• Third Dimension– people internalize the rules as the “natural” order of

things

– “A” has power over “B” because “B” doesn’t even see that there’s a problem or an imbalance of power

– the powerless are socialized (through experience, media, religion, education) to adopt the interests of the powerful as their own, and to accept the rules as just and right

– even if “B” can see the rules are unfair, they accept that there is nothing they can do about it

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A sociological imagination can help us see and understand power and

act back effectively.

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Sociology has been called,the great myth de-bunking

discipline.

But thinking sociologically

ain’t always easy.

What might be some obstacles to developing a sociological imagination?

• Cultural values of individualism and free will

• Desire for certain rather than probable answers

• Social processes are dynamic, not static

• Critical nature of the discipline

Why is developing a sociological imagination

so important?

(here are a few reasons)

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U.S. “Regime Changes:”Successful* and Attempted

• Costa Rica 1970-71

• Bolivia 1971 *

• Chile 1973 *

• Australia 1973-75 *

• Angola 1975, 1980s

• Zaire 1975

• Portugal 1974-76 *

• Jamaica 1976-80 *

• Seychelles 1979-81

• El Salvador 1979-92

• Chad 1981-82 *

• Grenada 1983 *

• South Yemen 1982-84

• Suriname 1982-84

• Fiji 1987 *

• Libya 1980s

• Nicaragua 1981-90 *

• Panama 1989 *

• Bulgaria 1990 *

• Albania 1991 *

• Iraq 1991

• Afghanistan 1980s *

• Somalia 1993

• Yugoslavia 1999-2000 *

• Ecuador 2000 *

• Afghanistan 2001 *

• Venezuela 2002 *

• Iraq 2003 *

• Haiti 2004 *

• Somalia 2007 to present

• Libya 2011*

• Syria 2012

• Ukraine 2014*

https://www.globalresearch.ca/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-lis

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What might be some benefits of asociological imagination?

• Humanizing effects– Fosters appreciation for diversity and broadens

personal views

• Liberating– Empowers people to recognize their role in making

history

– Helps overcome “bad faith”• Bad Faith = the belief that you have no freedom—when

people argue they don’t have a choice but to follow unjust rules or do their job

• Our choices may not be without consequences, but we do have choices (even if they are limited)

• With liberation come responsibility

What might be some benefits of asociological imagination?

• Helps us understand obstacles to solving social problems

• Inoculates us against simple explanations of complex issues

Anyone who gives you a simple solution for a

complex problem is either ignorant or lying.

Remember this:

The person who controls the questions controls the answers.

Remember this too, please.