Overview of "The Sociological Imagination" by C. Wright Mills

The article "The Sociological Imagination" by C. Wright Mills to my understanding is about the structure of society. The main ideas he was trying to convey was of how the individuals of a society affects a society as a whole. The example that Mills states about the unemployment rate in my understanding has held true. It seems that although there were many job cuts in previous years, the quantity was not as great as it is now. In previous years the lay offs only affected a small amount of people which meant as a whole it didn't really affect society. Now with the increasing number of lost jobs, these combined individuals who are no longer working class have a combined greater affect on society.

Although the individual may not directly affect society, society can directly affect an individual. I have seen many examples of this statement that Wright has pointed out. Such incidents I have seen where society affects an individual is when a person's surroundings change. I have seen people act professionally while they are at work with proper clothing attire and when at home they dress casually and let their personalities out. This to me demonstrates how society's standard on work ethic affects an individual directly. I have personally experienced the affects of society when I have to go to school and change the way I speak and act to fit the standards.

The significance of the article is to have an understanding of the relationships between society and an individual. Since an individual doesn't usually affect society, but society affects an individual it shows that the main societal behavior can cause complete changes in people's lives and cultures. In British Literature I read a story concerning the black plague and it explained how the common rate of deaths cause everyone to become cold towards the sick. The reason was because in the eye of society people who had the disease were in a state of hopelessness and were ostracized.

Personally these factors will affect my future choices. Everything from the demand of certain careers to the different costs of living will affect my future job and household. Contradictory to the idea having our own free will to choose what we please, Mills explains that it is not technically the reality. Most teens have to face their options for the future and don't realize the problems that have already been created for them by society. This is what forces me and many other teens into standards of living that causes us to look into small groups for guidance. The ultimate relevance to sociology this article has is that there are many connections between past societies and present ones and understanding them can help us to shape it or our individual surroundings for the benefit of society as a whole.