Homework 1

Response Paper

The Promise by C. Wright Mills

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Response Paper

The Promise by C. Wright Mills

‘The Promise’ by C. Wright Mills sheds light on one of the most fundamental topics related to the subject of sociology, as well as society. The author has described in his work that human beings and the whole society are connected and inter-linked. Most of the times, human beings fail to see or understand this connection and feel pressurized by the problems of their life. They overlook the fact that they are the basis of society and are playing their role in the development and progress of society. In addition to it, the history, economy, and future of the society is dependent over them, as well as impact their daily lives, while having the tendency to impact their future also. The main point of the writing by Mills is that in order to understand the issues and happenings of the life of an individual, it is quite necessary to understand the working and process of the society. C. Wright Mills coined the term of sociological imagination, which means the use of the social lens, in order to understand the issues of the life of an individual from the broader perspective of society. He was of the view that most of the individuals feel that only they are facing the worst circumstances of life. However, if they try to see the pattern of the society, they would be able to know that every other person is suffering from the same issue and that is actually a bigger social issue and not a mere personal problem. Moreover, sociological imagination can help the individuals of any society to identify their societal issues and come up with the strategies to nullify those issues (Mills, 1959).

The article is related to the class and supported by the lecture notes in the way that it helps in identifying the fundamental connection between human beings and society. It also helped in exploring the fact that although society develops due to the effort and progress of human beings, yet it has the power to impact their lives. Moreover, it helped in understanding the need of the sociological imagination and sociological perspectives, described in the lecture notes.

The article is also related to the understanding of society at the micro, macro and mezo level. The sociological imagination helps the individuals to explore the micro, macro and mezo level impacts of any issue on the society. For example, if a person gets unemployed due to the reason that his company was closed, he would think that it is only him who is suffering from the issue of unemployment. This is the micro level of the problem. Using the sociological imagination, the individual would be able to explore the mezo level analysis of the issue, which is that due to the closing of the company, many other people have become unemployed, which is also giving rise to homelessness. In addition to it, the macro level analysis of the issue would help the person to understand that due to the economic issues, a vast range of companies are getting shut down, turning a great number of the population unemployed and contributing towards the economic depression. So, unemployment is a bigger issue, which is impacting the whole society in one way or the other.

According to my opinion, the article has described the connection between human beings and society in a quite elaborated manner. The thing that the author has got right is that if a social problem exists in the society, then it is not just affecting a single person but many others as well. The severity and consequences of the problem may be different for different individuals; however, it would impact the functionality of the whole society. Moreover, nothing was lacking in the article according to my opinion.

Reference

Mills, C. W. (1959). The Promise.