SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Books on Sociological Imagination, Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2009
As used by C.W. Mills (1916-1962) the term sociological imagination refers to the ability to imagine and understand the intersection between personal biography and historical social structures.
This is indeed the essence of sociology: imagining that every individual's life is given meaning, form and significance within historically specific cultures and ways of organizing social life.
Having a sociological imagination then is identical with being a good sociologist: it is a standard against which to judge sociology.
Sociological Imagination took issue with the ascendant schools of sociology in the United States, calling for a humanist sociology connecting the social, personal, and historical dimensions of our lives.
The sociological imagination is a sociological vision, a way of looking at the world that can see links between the apparently private problems of the individual and important social issues.
A sociology student needs to develop a sociological imagination. The fundamentals of sociological imagination needs to be discussed.
Developing a Sociological Imagination: Expanding
Ethnography in International English Language Education
ADRIAN HOLLIDAY, Canterbury Christ Church College
Whereas the importance of ethnography in analysing broad social realities in education is
now established, in international English language education, ethnography has often been
restricted to oral aspects of classroom behaviour This paper argues that the cultural
complexity and variety in English language classrooms across the world also require
ethnographies of non-verbal behaviour and of curriculum and curriculum project design and
management beyond the classroom A professional sociological imagination needs to be
cosmopolitan, broad-based, and wide-ranging in the multiplicity of relations between
students, educators, the community, and also the people, material, and concepts which the
profession transports across cultures In the search for ethical research, we can and must
look wider than the emicism of verbal data The polyphony of views which is essential to
international English language education can be achieved in as many ways as there are
cultures - applij.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/17/2/234
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A Remarkable Sociological Imagination
Author: Edwards T.
Source: British Journal of Sociology of Education, Volume 23, Number 4, 1 December 2002,
pp. 527-535(9)
Abstract: This paper reviews the scope of Basil Bernstein's sociology, indicating some of
the research that his ideas have inspired, shaped or provoked. Although it takes a roughly
chronological approach to the development of his ideas, the paper emphasizes how
consistently he explored the making of societies and social classes, and the structuring
of social interaction. The title of the paper reflects how successfully Bernstein met
Wright Mills' criterion for a true sociological imagination—that it seeks to grasp
the extent to which 'personal troubles' are 'public issues' arising from the changing
forms of social inequalities as these are produced from generation to generation. -
ingentaconnect.com
Taking the sociological imagination to school: an analysis of the (lack of) impact of
information and communication technologies on education systems
Author: Somekh, Bridget1
Source: Technology, Pedagogy and Education, Volume 13, Number 2, July 2004, pp.
This article suggests that it is time for sociologists to redirect their focus from
critiques of policy makers' unrealistic visions for information and communication
technologies (ICTs) to the more generic issues that consistently mobilise resistance to
ICTs within schools and education systems. There is an extraordinary difference between
young people's experiences of ICTs at home and at school. The article explores the nature
of ICTs, which are fundamentally antipathetic to the culture of the school, and draws on
theories of institutional formation and structuration to explain the subliminal processes
of institutional resistance that have so far been effective in emasculating their
disruptive power. Illustrations of this process in practice are drawn from recent research
in schools in the United Kingdom. The article then draws on three bodies of theory that
suggest that ICTs fundamentally change human ontology, and suggests that it is time to
stop trying to introduce them into schools as superficial additions to the current system.
The article ends with a challenge to sociologists to play a leadership role in scenario
building to assist policy makers in the transformation of education systems. -
ingentaconnect.com
RALPH ELLISON'S SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Randal Doane
This article investigates how the theoretical frameworks of Hegel, Marx, and Freud inform
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and it highlights the novel's exploration of sociological
concepts such as alienation, freedom, and the unconscious. I will consider Ellison's
emergence as a writer and explore how the formal and the thematic variations of the novel
are informed by the concepts of dialectics, being, and labor (Hegel and Marx), and psychic
structure, Eros, and Ananke (Freud). I will conclude by considering how Ellison's project
resonates with the tenets of feminism and post-modernism and how literature can be
conceptualized for sociological analysis.
The Sociological Quarterly - Volume 45 Page 161 - January 2004 - blackwell-synergy.com
Books on sociological imagination:
College
and Society: An Introduction to the Sociological Imagination
by Stephen Sweet
A brief book that uses examples from a college or university setting to illustrate society
in terms of social groups and forces. College and Society is based on the premise that
colleges are not “ivory towers” that stand in contrast to the larger society.
Rather, the author argues that colleges tend to reflect many of the same social
structures, culturally based expectations of social conduct, and patterns of interaction
seen at work in the larger society. For anyone interested in learning basic concepts of
Sociology.
From the Back Cover
A brief book that uses examples from a college or university setting to illustrate society
in terms of social groups and forces. College and Society is based on the premise that
colleges are not “ivory towers” that stand in contrast to the larger society.
Rather, the author argues that colleges tend to reflect many of the same social
structures, culturally based expectations of social conduct, and patterns of interaction
seen at work in the larger society. For anyone interested in learning basic concepts of
Sociology.
The
Eclipse of Morality: Science, State, and Market (Sociological Imagination and Structural
Change) by Lawrence Busch
We are heirs to three approaches to the problem of order developed in the seventeenth
century: science, the state, and the market. Busch uses the works of Bacon, Hobbes, and
Adam Smith as Weberian ideal types. Each attempted to describe, to predict, and to
prescribe a solution. Different as they were, each proposed a solution that relieved
people of most moral responsibility and assigned it to an extrahuman force: God's hand as
revealed through the method of science, the visible hand of the state, or the invisible
hand of the market.
Using historical examples drawn from the last two centuries, Busch shows how the ideas
initially proposed by these thinkers became reified as scientism, statism, and marketism
-- systems of belief that single mode of ordering could solve the riddle of society. No
single, unique ordering is possible or necessary, the author argues, since individuals and
society are both the outcomes of social processes. Democracy must be expanded by building
networks that extend it beyond the political realm to all institutions. Busch ends by
providing concrete examples of successful attempts to extend democracy, to create multiple
orderings, thereby putting moral responsibility neither on the shoulders of individuals,
where it becomes crushingly heavy, nor on society, where it becomes unbearably light.
CONTENTS: Introduction: The Politics of Science and the Science of Politics · 1.
Development and the Problem of Order · 2. The Technology of Power and the Power of
Technology · 3. The State of the State · 4. Selling the Market · 5. Beyond the
Leviathans · 6. Networks of Democracy · References · Index
Moral
Order and Social Disorder: The American Search for Civil Society
(Sociological Imagination and Structural Change) by Frank Hearn
Drawing upon both classical insights and more recent writings, Hearn provides a compelling
account of social breakdown in the United States. The book examines the conditions most
responsible for the deterioration of social institutions, notably of the family and of
communitarian interdependencies, such as those that support neighborhoods. More
specifically, Hearn analyzes the defining forces of liberal modernity-in particular, the
market economy (favored by the political right) and the democratic welfare state (endorsed
by the political left) - whose steady expansion has diminished the social contexts that
nurture trust, mutuality, and a robust sense of both personal responsibility and social
obligation.
The originality of Hearn's book lies in the solutions he proposes, which differ from those
rooted in what Hearn calls "the languages of modernity." Hearn advocates modes
that would serve instead to renew solidarity and reclaim social virtue, a repertory of
strategies that would answer Emile Durkheim's call for the creation of moral
individualism. He assesses various approaches to revitalizing the social settings, the
social institutions and communitarian structures, within which people become moral
individuals capable of caring about and taking responsibility for the fates of others.
Readers of this book are invited to rely in larger part on themselves as parents,
neighbors, community members, and citizen-participants in a civil society in restoration.
The
Sociological Inquiry: Readings Across the Sociological Imagination
by Edward Sanford
Social
Problems and The Sociological Imagination: A Paradigm for Analysis
by David R Simon
Designed for use as a supplementary social problems text at the undergraduate level, this
book analyzes social problems using the paradigm of C. Wright Mills' "sociological
imagination", focusing on the relationship between personal troubles and public
issues affecting the society at large. After describing the major problems of American
society and grounding the reader in the fundamentals of the sociological imagination, the
author centers each chapter around one of the basic concepts of the paradigm (structure,
biography and alienation, historical main drift, ideology, and social change). Each
chapter contains two exercises, one short, the other long, which teach students how to
develop a sociological imagination. Created to be fun and interesting, most involve
content analysis and the study of the mass media. While other texts discuss the
sociological imagination, no other text applies it systematically.
The
Sociological Imagination
by C. Wright Mills
C. Wright Mills is best remembered for his highly acclaimed work The Sociological
Imagination, in which he set forth his views on how social science should be pursued.
Hailed upon publication as a cogent and hard-hitting critique, The Sociological
Imagination took issue with the ascendant schools of sociology in the United States,
calling for a humanist sociology connecting the social, personal, and historical
dimensions of our lives. The sociological imagination Mills calls for is a sociological
vision, a way of looking at the world that can see links between the apparently private
problems of the individual and important social issues.
Leading sociologist Todd Gitlin brings this fortieth anniversary edition up to date with a
lucid afterword in which he considers the ways social analysis has progressed since Mills
first published his study in 1959. A classic in the field, this book still provides rich
food for our imagination.
Minority
Voices : Linking Personal Ethnic History and the Sociological Imagination by John
P. Myers
In this unique reader, eighteen sociologists write about their own personal experiences,
and those of their families, as members of a particular racial or ethnic group in the
United States. The essays are both personal and sociological; each contributor compares
the experience of his or her own family to the larger group experience. Many essays tell
compelling stories of how institutional discrimination operates, and how circumstances can
persuade people to accept prejudice and discrimination. Anyone interested in reading
first-hand sociological accounts of the minority experience in America.
From the Back Cover
In this unique reader, eighteen social scientists write about their own personal
experiences, and those of their families, as members of a particular racial or ethnic
group in the United States. Many essays tell compelling stories of how institutional
discrimination operates, and how circumstances can persuade people to accept prejudice and
discrimination. Several selections written by women who are also members of a racial or
ethic minority show how different types of discrimination interact. Each contributor
compares the experience of his or her own family to the larger group experience, telling a
story that is at once personal and sociological.
Crime,
Justice, and Society: Criminology and the Sociological Imagination, with Free PowerWeb
by Ronald Berger, Patricia Searles, Marvin Free
This is a uniquely sociologically oriented Criminology text designed to help students
cultivate their own "sociological imagination" about crime and criminal justice.
The book takes a critical approach and places questions of social inequality and power at
the center of criminological inquiry. It views class, race/ethnicity, and gender as
pivotal organizing principles of social life--prisms through which we come to know
ourselves and our social world and as central mechanisms by which social relationships are
patterned. The text offers instructors and students an approach that is interesting and
innovative, yet organized to fit into conventional course formats. The authors write in an
engaging manner that is accessible to students, and they include many real-life anecdotes
and quotes from offenders, victims, and criminal justice personnel to help illustrate
concepts and make the material more interesting to read.
Enriching
The Sociological Imagination: How Radical Sociology Changed The Discipline by
Rhonda Levine
Since the 1960s, radical sociology has had far more influence on mainstream sociology than
many observers imagine. This book pairs seminal articles with new reflective essays
written by the founders of progressive sociology, including Fred Block, Edna Bonacich,
Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, Val Burris, G. William Domhoff, Richard Flacks, Harvey
Molotch, Goran Therborn, and Erik Olin Wright.
The book highlights the wider impact of radical sociology and shows how the work of these
and other writers has continued to influence sociology’s continuing interest in
capitalism, class, race, gender, power, and progressive social change. It also describes
future directions for a critical sociology relevant to a multicultural and global world.
On
Work, Race, and the Sociological Imagination (Heritage of Sociology Series)
by Everett C. Hughes, Lewis A. Coser (Editor)
A collection of 17 papers by second generation American sociologist Hughes (1897-1983)
that speak to work, race and status, and the sociological imagination. Among the titles
are Social Role and the Division of Labor, The Knitting of Racial Groups in Industry, and
Good People and Dirty Work. A substantial introduction outlines Hughes' life and
contribution to the profession. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
The writings in this volume highlight Hughes's contributions to the sociology of work and
professions; race and ethnicity; and the central themes and methods of the discipline.
Hughes was the first sociologist to pay sustained attention to occupations as a field for
study and wrote frequently and searchingly about them. Several of the essays in this
collection helped orient the first generation of Black sociologists, including Franklin
Frazier, St. Clair Drake, and Horace Cayton.
The Power of Place: Bringing Together Geographical and Sociological Imaginations by John A. Agnew, James S. Duncan (Editor)
Enriching The Sociological Imagination