According to Mills, the sociological imagination is:

"…a quality of mind that will help them to use information and to develop reason in order to

achieve lucid summations of what is going on in the world and of what may be happening within

themselves. It is this quality, I am going to contend, that journalists and scholars, artists and

publics, scientists and editors are coming to expect of what may be called the sociological

imagination." (Mills, 1959:5)

The sociological imagination identifies the distinction between “private troubles,” and “public

issues :

“Perhaps the most fruitful distinction with which the sociological imagination works is between

'the personal troubles of milieu' and 'the public issues of social structure…” (Mills, 1959:8)

“Troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his or her

immediate relations with others; they have to do with one's self and with those limited areas of

social life of which one is directly and personally aware.…” (Mills, 1959:8)

So, private troubles represent the private problems of individuals that must be solved by the

individuals in their social settings whereas public issues are matters beyond an individual’s

control that are caused by problems at societal level. In other words, private troubles can be

explained at the micro level but public issues are explained at marco level. For example, the

personal problems of war, when it occurs, may be how to survive it or how to die in it with

honour; how to make money out of it; how to climb into the higher safety of the military

apparatus; or how to contribute to the war’s termination. In short, according to one’s values, to

find a set of milieux and within it to survive the war or to make one’s death in it is meaningful.

But the structural issues of war have to do with its causes; with what types of persons it throws

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up into command; with its effects upon economic and political, family and religious institutions,

with the unorganized irresponsibility of a world of nation-states.1

In today’s society, it is easy to see people blaming themselves for the personal life problems they

face. For example, a poor-educated father may blame himself for not being able to support his

family well due to shortage of money and unavailability to find a decent job. Another could be a

newly-wed couple having daily arguments which may lead to their divorce or a case of where

women are facing difficulties perceiving their housekeeping responsibilities as a mother wanting

to become something more than just a housewife. These various private tensions may seem very

personal. But according to sociologist C. Wright Mills, these problems are all related to a bigger

world called society and this is known as the sociological imagination. Sociological imagination

suggests that people look at their own personal troubles as social issues and, in general try to

connect their own individual encounters with the workings of society. The personal problems are

closely related to societal issues such as unemployment, marriage, war and even the city life

where the private troubles and the public issues become clearly apparent.

If we have not learnt the sociological imagination, we would not have been able to understand

how society relates to our daily decision makings and beliefs we have developed throughout the

years. We might think that our personal problems are only affected by our private issues and can

not imagine that sociological issues could be such a big of an impact. In many areas such as

gender and sexuality, family and culture, race and ethnicity, and social class and stratification are

all the causes and results of various personal problems we have throughout our life. Once we

begin to learn these sociological concepts, we are able to relate them more to our life and start to

question how society can be changed. We must realize and accept that little actions can change

the society which can bring dramatic changes to our daily lives. We have to stop thinking that

1
http://www.hss.iitb.ac.in/courses/HS%20205/Sociology%20-%20An%20Introduction.htm

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society is merely a big institution that we as “small people” can do nothing to bring about a

change. We have to realize that we may be created and controlled by the social world, but at the

same time we create the society. As we raise our children, we have to try to bring them up as

individuals rather than a boy and a girl. As we meet people of different races, we are not only

going to limit ourselves to Chinese and other Asians, rather we will try to get off from our

comfort zone and be part of different groups of people. These things may not be easy as it sounds

because of beliefs that society has already formed in our mind. However, we have to try to stay

open-minded and that society can indeed change if we all become aware of each of our own

sociological imaginations.

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