C. Wright Mills

Question 1

Individual problem

Answer 1

a problem caused by individual characteristics/choices/actions

Question 2

Social problem

Answer 2

a problem that individuals suffer but that is promoted by the social environment

Question 3

The problem with social problems

Answer 3

combination of social problems with individualism

promotes considerable angst

we blame the problems on ourselves or deleted them to blame others

Question 4

Sociological imagination

Answer 4

ability to connect seemingly impersonal and remote historical/social forces to the incidents of an individuals life

Question 5

Components of the sociological imagination(3)

Answer 5

1) History: how society came to be, major historical forces created it

2) social structures: how the various institutional orders in a society operate, which ones are dominate and how they function

3) Biography: particular individual characteristics

Question 6

Example: Missing aboriginal women

Answer 6

Individual: sees women as defective in some way, made bad choices with dire consequences

But the sociological imagination:

History: cultural genocide and margnilization disempowering of aboriginal women and crate of a negative discourse (Stevenson)

Social structure: high likelihood of experiencing poverty and discrimination, living in isolated areas with high crime and limited services

biography: shaped by history and social structure

Question 7

Structure- Agency Debate

Answer 7

social imagination focuses on structure but Mills also thought people have agency

believes one’s agency depends on history, social structure and biography

Question 8

The Power Elite

Answer 8

concerned with the bases of power/agency inequality in the US in the 1950s

saw organizations as the key to disempowerment

Question 9

Michels vs. Mills

Answer 9

Michels: empowered a select few, which allowed them to dominate organizations and their members

unlike Michels, Mills focused on larger society, not single organizations

Question 10

Mills and Society

Answer 10

societies are increasingly dominated by organizations

organizational elites dominate society

Question 11

Mills and organization and social power

Answer 11

believed that the most powerful organizations in the us in the 1950s exerted great control over individual life

1) corporate chieftains: CEOs of major corporations

2) political directorate: officials who command the state hierarchies

3) warlords: military generals

Question 12

Interlocking Directorate (3)

Answer 12

3 components of the power elite are intertwined but not autonomous

1) Status community: go to the same schools, have same friendship networks, have same elite outlooks

2) Interdependence: all 3 segments of the elite are interdependent

3)Transferability: elites from one segment can become elites from another segment

Question 13

Outcome of interlocking directorate

Answer 13

cohesive elite community and are able to look out for elite interest

promotes social and political oligarchy

limits the agency of the masses and deters democracy