The Sociological Imagination

"The sociological imagination requires us to engage in the study of an individual's biography; but to place that biography in the wider context of the history and tradition of the society in which that individual lives." C. Wright Mills

For Mills, the all too common misperception on the part of many individuals is that they perceive their own biographies as just personal and private. Far too often there is a failure to see their own biographies as being interwoven and interrelated to the wider public and political 'stage' of society.

Your assignment is to apply your sociological imagination to write your autobiography. In other words, examine the intersection between your biography and social history, between your personal troubles and public issues. Naturally, you do not have to reveal sensitive information about yourself.

Pick specific aspects of your life to analyze in sociological terms. I encourage you to discuss your paper with me during office hours and to show me an early draft.

 This should be about 5 to 7 pages long. (typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font)  This assignment is worth 20% of your grade. (100 points, same as an exam)

I will look for:

 use of concepts that are truly relevant to the experience that you are trying to understand  comparisons of this experience to that of people in similar or contrasting circumstances;  use of relevant data;  good writing/good English;

 creativity;  signs that you have learned something about your own life;  In general, evidence that you are developing the sociological imagination.

You need to think about some aspect(s) of your personal history that can be explained by using ideas covered in Soc 101.Somesuggestionsofconceptsandideasthatmightberelevantfollow. Thesearemerelysuggestionsto stimulate your thinking about this paper. There is no way to use all of them - just pick a few that are relevant to your experience. I encourage you to be creative and feel free to add to this list or use the material differently than I have suggested.

Theory: Conflict, anomie, adaptation, and alienation are all concepts that might be relevant to your life story. So is Mills' distinction between on the one hand 'the personal troubles of milieu' and on the other, 'the public issues of social structure' (Mills 1959: 14).

Research Methods: We are seeing many transformations in our society, most of which are described using sociological methods such as surveys. We have seen, for example, increases in divorce rates until recently, and a decrease in the violent crime rate. Does your life story reflect a more general social trend?

Culture and Society: Have you moved from one culture to another; can you document the effects this had on you or your family? Have you experienced culture shock? Have you had to learn to be less ethnocentric? Has the trend toward multiculturalism