01:920:101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: The Sociological Imagination, Sociological Theory, Inferiority Complex

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: 01:920:101
• Professor: K.Springer

Document Summary

Sociological imagination (mills 1959: according to a sociologist named mills, human lives are the intersection of biography and history . 2. oftentimes, the private" affects the public" and vice versa: mills also describes sociology as the quality of mind that makes it possible to understand the larger meaning of our experiences . Race is the perfect example of the sociological imagination. In other words, does race really exist: race only exists within the context of society. Society is what makes race exist, and it is what gives race a de nition. When we take off our sociological goggles, race" is simple an idea that resides in the social realm. Social group memberships matter: social groups are not deterministic, but they still matter: they cannot be considered deterministic because social groupings, like race, is not technically real. However, while race and other social groupings only exists in the realm of the general society, their effects are very much real.