ImaginingThe Sociological Imagination

The Biographical Context of a Sociological Classic

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5609971
AutoresJohn D Brewer (0000-0002-4213-5830, University of Aberdeen, autor de correspondencia)
Año2004
Volumen55
Número3
Páginas317-333
Fecha de publicación2004-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-4446.2004.00022.x
PMID15383090
OpenAlexW2009808119
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas25
Referencias citadas25

Charles Wright Mills's arguments inThe Sociological Imaginationare very popular and this paper focuses on the biographical context in which his programmatic statements were occasioned. This breaks new ground by locatingThe Sociological Imaginationand earlier programmatic statements in the professional and personal travails that motivated them. This approach is adopted in order to display the intersection between biography and sociology in Mills's life and career, a feature that he made a central part of sociology's promise. The paper utilizes this approach to reflect on the reasons whyThe Sociological Imaginationbecame so popular and was able to transcend Mills's general unpopularity at the time of his death; and as part of the explanation of why the dismissal of the book on its publication contrasts with the contemporary view, enabling it to transpose successfully to a time significantly different than at its writing

Aesthetics · Art history · Biography · Context (archaeology · Dismissal · Epistemology · Order (exchange · Social science · Sociological imagination · Sociological theory · Sociology · Wright · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · History · Law · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics