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What is the sociological imagination? Why is it important to our understanding of society?

User Ives
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Sociologists differ in their understanding of the concept, but the range suggests several important commonalities. Together, they conclude that: C. Wright Mills defined sociological imagination as "the awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society
User Patrick Conboy
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It can be defined as the ability to see things socially, their interaction and influence on each other. For having sociological imagination one should be able to pull themselves away from a situation and look at it from an alternative point of view. The term was coined by sociologist C. Wright Millis in 1959. It is not a theory but an outlook. It steers a person from the usual way of looking at life and has a new perspective towards the day to day life. It involves diving deeper and understanding how their life is related to larger social context.

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