Abstract
C. Wright Mills’s The Sociological Imagination has achieved legendary status in the 50 or so years since its publication. I have always enjoyed it primarily for its intellectual and moral challenge but also for its mischievous sense of fun. According to Mills: ‘To be aware of the idea of social structure and to use it with sensibility is to be capable of tracing such linkages among a great variety of milieux. To be able to do that is to possess the sociological imagination’ (Mills 1959: 10–11).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aron, R. (1957) German Sociology. London: Heinemann.
Bauman, Z. and Tester, K. (2001) Conversations with Zygmunt Bauman. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Berger, J. and Mohr, J. (1975) A Seventh Man. London: Penguin.
Berger, P. (1963) Invitation to Sociology. London: Penguin.
Cicourel, A. (1964) Method and Measurement in Sociology. New York: Free Press of Glencoe.
Cressey, P., Eldridge, J. and MacInnes, J. (1985) Just Managing: Authority and Democracy in Industry. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Eco, U. (1999) Serendipities. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Eldridge, J. (1985) C. Wright Mills. London: Tavistock.
Eldridge, J. (2010) ‘Baldamus’s Adventures with Cross-Classification’ in M. Erickson and C. Turner (eds.) The Sociology of Wilhelm Baldamus. Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 19–33.
Elias, N. (1978) What Is Sociology? London: Hutchinson.
Fordham, J. (2005) ‘The Untouchable’, The Guardian, 29 April, http://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/apr/29/jazz.shopping2, date accessed: 23 June 2015.
Glasgow University Media Group (1985) War and Peace News. London: Routledge.
Goffman, E. (1969) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. London: Penguin.
Merton, R. (1936) ‘The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action’, American Sociological Review, 1 (6): 894–4.
Merton, R. (1957) Social Theory and Social Structure. Glencoe: Free Press.
Merton, R. and Barber, E. (2004) The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity. New York: Princeton University Press.
Mills, C.W. (1948) ‘The Contributions of Sociology to the Study of Industrial Relations’ in Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Society.
Mills, C.W. (1959) The Sociological Imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mills, C.W. (1963) Power Politics and People: The Collected Essays of C. Wright Mills. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thompson, E.P. (1978) The Poverty of Theory. London: Merlin.
Touraine, A. (1981) The Voice and the Eye. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Weber, M. (1949) The Methodology of the Social Sciences. Glencoe: Free Press.
Williams, R. (1961) Culture and Society. London: Penguin.
Williams, R. (1976) Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. London: Fontana Press.
Williams, R. (1974) Television, Technology and Cultural Form. London: Routledge.
Williams, R. (1981) Politics and Letters. London: Verso.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 John Eldridge
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Eldridge, J. (2015). Stretching Exercises: Stimulating the Sociological Imagination. In: Dawson, M., Fowler, B., Miller, D., Smith, A. (eds) Stretching the Sociological Imagination. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137493644_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137493644_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-49363-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-49364-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)