C Wright Mills The Promise Analysis

In “The Promise of Sociology”, an excerpt from C. Wright Mills’ The Sociological Imagination, the writer branches out upon the subject of sociology and its impact on individuals and communities both throughout history and in the modern day. Mills begins the passage by calling attention to the common experience that all mankind shares of being bound by their circumstances and never allowing themselves to expand their awareness. I think that Mills uses this idea for two reasons. First, by applying a concern that involves all mankind, he allows his voice to be heard and applicable to a wide variety of people. Second, he immediately draws the attention of the reader by exposing a relatable flaw: the concept of “feeling trapped” in the common …show more content…
I also feel like Mills raises a good point by using examples of consistent patterns throughout history. For some reason, while reading this passage, it reminded me of the common saying of how history repeats itself. According to this writer, it seems that he believes that the patterns of history have caused men to believe that their lives remain out of their control and simply an inevitable chain of high and low moments. I agree more, however, to what he says next, about how history can serve as a potential means for modern civilization to apply both the successes and failures of the past cultures. Reading this part made me really excited about this course, because it seems to really delve into understanding human nature, which I find to be very interesting. I also liked how he presented the three central questions to sociological thinking, as well as provide definitions to the two different terms. He gave really good examples, such as war and divorce, that made the reading easily clear and understandable. I think it was interesting how he specifically focused on the concepts of history and biography as essential components to sociology. I am still unsure what he means by biography and how exactly that will help. I also had to look up the word “milieux”, and thought it was a cool word when I looked up the