Essay About C. Wright Mills Sociological Imagination And Emile Durkheim

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C. Wright Mills Sociological Imagination
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In 1959, C. Wright Mills released a book entitled The sociological
Imagination.
It was in this book that he laid out a set of guidelines of how to
carry out social analysis.
But for a layman, what does the term sociological imagination
actually mean?
In his own words, Mills claimed “it is the capacity to shift from one
perspective to anotherthe capacity to range from the most impersonal
and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human
self – and to see the relations between the two of them.”
. Mills believed that being able to see the relationship between the
ordinary lives of people and the wider social forces was the key to
the sociological imagination.
Fundamental to Mills theory is the idea of public issues and
private troubles.
An individuals troubles are personal when they occur because of the
persons character.
Public issues, however, are a direct result of the problems within
society, they affect people hugely but often the individual will
assign the problem as their own personal downfall rather than as a
societal problem.
An ordinary man may get depressed about being unemployed and
automatically accept it as his own personal trouble. He will be
condemned as being lazy or work-shy and labelled simply as a
scrounger. However, if there are thousands of other individuals also
unemployed, Mills argues it should then be treated as a public
issue.
Another good example of this is divorce. If only a few divorces occur
within a society than it can be seen as person troubles of the people
involved. If, however, masses of people are getting divorced every
year than it can be seen as a public issue where institutions like
marriage, law and media need to be looked at.
Mills suggested was that these sorts of problems are interwoven with
the large-scale problems of society where government policy may be
involved and therefore are a public issue.
It is clear from this that what sociology focuses on is the influence
of social forces on behaviour and how individuals and groups respond
to these forces.
In order to analyse the effects it is important to see the world with
a sociological state of mind and “..to see it whole.” (Mills. 1959.
170).
It is using this ability to see the bigger picture that sociological
explanations can be developed.
Some explanations are that of Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist who
came up with a theory for suicide.
Durkheim suggested that social forces are responsible for suicides,
underlying 4 main causes of suicide to do with social integration and
moral regulation.
The first is Egoistic suicide in which the individual experiences low
levels of social integration and becomes detached from social groups.
Durkheims example of this was of unmarried people, especially males,
who had little social support or guidance.
The second is Altruistic suicide, which is a result of too much social
integration. This involved the individual becoming so immersed in
their social group that they lost sight of their individuality,
resulting in sacrifice of their own lives. Durkheims example of this
was members of the military. A modern example would be suicide bombers
who surround terrorism today.
The third is Anomic suicide associated with moral regulation. Durkheim
suggested this type was due to a sudden breakdown of social order or a
disruption in norms, for example the French revolution and the
emergence of a new industrial society.
The final type of suicide put forward by Durkheim is fatalistic
suicide. This would occur when the individual was forced to live in
unbearable circumstances or lived a very unrewarding life such as a
slave.
Durkheims work on suicide demonstrates sociological imagination.
In the first chapter of his book, Mills writes that “The sociological
imagination enables its possessor to understand the larger historical
scene