Another interesting passage from the Open Letter to C. Wright Mills by Michael Burawoy: But how should we talk to publics? Your modus operandi, I have to tell you this, is to talk down to publics. You place yourself above… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘c wright mills’
The Scholastic Fallacy of C. Wright Mills
In a fascinating paper from 2008, Michael Burawoy wrote an Open Letter to C. Wright Mills. You can read it online here but I wanted to share this insightful passage which stood out to me: But recognizing the link between… Read More ›
The Promise of Sociology in 2015
Earlier this month, I spoke to Nicholas Gane (Warwick) and Les Back (Goldsmiths) about an article they published in Theory, Culture & Society. It was called C. Wright Mills 50 Years On: The Promise and Craft of Sociology Revisited and, as you can… Read More ›
Computers and Intellectual Craftsmanship
by Jim Kemeny I still remember the large number of personnel needed to input and analyse data in the 1950s: “Computers were giant mechanical assemblages, big enough to take up an entire warehouse, programmed in advance with punch cards. In… Read More ›
Academic scribes, their writing and their unsociability
The paradox is that we academic scribes are not always very sociable. We cling to the library like bookish limpets that, like Kierkegaard, find real human beings too heavy to embrace. We speak a lot about society but all too… Read More ›
Your ‘daily dose of Sociological Imagination’: reflections on social media and public sociology
Your ‘daily dose of Sociological Imagination’: reflections on social media and public sociology by Mark Carrigan and Milena Kremakova This website’s raison d’etre was initially nebulous, tentative and ambitious all at the same time: we wanted to create a new online… Read More ›
The Sociological Imagination Revisited
Let me confess a sin. The opening chapter from C Wright Mills’ The Sociological Imagination was the very first piece of required reading handed to me as an undergraduate. It also holds the distinction of beginning a chain of photocopied chapters and… Read More ›
The (un)intelligibility of academics and being ‘a mere journalist’
In many academic circles today anyone who tries to write in a widely intelligible way is liable to be condemned as a ‘mere literary man’ or, worse still, ‘a mere journalist.’ Perhaps you have already learned that these phrases, as… Read More ›
Charles Wright Mills documentary
A short documentary on C. Wright Mills life, theories, accomplishments, and impacts on society. Not exactly the slickest film you’re likely to find on the internet but a useful and sympathetic overview of his work.
“You ask for what one should be keyed up?”
“You ask for what one should be keyed up? My god, for long weekends in the country, and snow and the feel of an idea and New York streets early in the morning and late at night and the camera eye always… Read More ›
The Life and Work of C. Wright Mills
“C. Wright Mills” on Bundlr
The Independent Artist and Intellectual
By permission of the estate of C. W. Mills. Photo by Yaroslava. “The independent artist and intellectual are among the few remaining personalities equipped to resist and to fight the stereotyping and consequent death of genuinely lively things. Fresh perception now… Read More ›
Why Academic Sociology Does Not Deserve The Hatchet
Note: This list was written as a quick response to this post on Freakonomics, “Sociology and Political Science Deserve The Hatchet.” The photograph above is of one of the very first American sociologists, Anna Julia Cooper, who received her doctorate from… Read More ›
No nation now, but the imagination
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of C. Wright Mills’ death, Sociological Imagination pays a respectful and moving tribute to the man who gave this forum its name through the legacy of his classic 1959 book, The Sociological Imagination, a veritable manifesto for… Read More ›
C. Wright Mills at work
By permission of the estate of C. W. Mills. Photo by Yaroslava.
Would C Wright Mills have kept a blog?
After a particularly inspiring session at the BSA Conference this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of C. Wright Mills’ death, I have started to read The Sociological Imagination again. It was a standard introductory book for sociology students and… Read More ›
One Story High
One Story High is a collection of very short sociological biographies I curated and edited for the on-line journal Fast Capitalism late in 2009, featuring the work of novelist and literary critic Amitava Kumar, anthropologist Katie Stewart and filmmaker John Cohen… Read More ›
Mike O’Donnell on “Charles Wright Mills and the (Continuing) Problem of Radical Agency”
This podcast is a recording of Mike O’Donnell’s talk at the C. Wright Mills session from the BSA conference in April 2012. Mike has written for SI on similar themes in the past: Charles Wright Mills’ Sociological Imagination and why we fail to… Read More ›
John Holmwood on “Sociology’s ‘moments’: C. Wright Mills and the critique of professionalism
This podcast is a recording of John Holmwood’s talk at the C. Wright Mills session from the BSA conference in April 2012. The snippet below is from the subsequent q&a session. (main podcast) (snippet)
Les Back on Sociology’s Promise
In this podcast Les Back discusses the enduring significance of C. Wright Mills to sociology. He mentions a (fantastic) book during his talk which we’ve embedded below. Les Back on Sociology’s Promise
Popular culture and the unconstrained sociological imagination
Over the last few years there has been one passage of academic social science text that has stayed with me more than any other. The issue it raises concers the way in which the sociological imagination is located and deployed… Read More ›
The Sociological Imagination
The name Mills gave to this promise was the sociological imagination, defined as that “quality of mind essential to comprehend the interplay of man and society, of biography and history, of self and the world”. The sociological imagination offered the… Read More ›
Are you writing the ‘I’ into your research?
It was a surprise and somehow a welcome relief when my supervisor at the University of Nottingham, Prof Carol Hall, encouraged me to ‘write the I’ into my MA dissertation about emotional intelligence in teaching and learning. The six (long,… Read More ›
Providing meaning: give a little bit of the Sociological Imagination….
I was once asked by Mark Carrigan, editor of The Sociological Imagination, what I have learnt from studying Sociology, this was my brief response: “In a nutshell, Sociology has given me specific tools that have become invaluable to me personally… Read More ›
#UKRiots and Sociological Imagination
So with London in flames for the third night in a row and, for the first time, disturbances spreading outside of the capital, the British population are asking the natural question – what the fuck is going on? The most… Read More ›
When Sociology Was Cool
I got my doctorate in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the exact same place C. Wright Mills got his doctorate in sociology. I know this because we shared some of the same professors there and, even more importantly, because… Read More ›
Charles Wright Mills’ Sociological Imagination and why we fail to match it today
Charles Wright Mills’ body of work was substantial by any standards but for someone who died at the age of forty-five it was remarkable. The range and substance of Mills’ work is impressive but even more so is its originality,… Read More ›