Teaching
I often begin undergraduate classes by teaching The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills. Mills helps explain that sociology is a way of thinking more than it is any collection of methods or sets of theories. In urging us to understand singular acts as connected to broader social, cultural, political, and/or economic forces—no matter how irrational those acts seem--Mills launched a discipline organized around the cultivation of double-vision: of seeing agency and structure at the same time, all the time.
I think of the sociological imagination as a superpower, akin to having x-ray vision in a large city. Most pedestrians just see the streetscape with its skyscrapers and traffic lights, food vendors and steam rising from grates. But a sociologist wonders when the traffic light receive its “Do Not Turn on Red” Sign and whether this was connected to a political turn of events. They ask the street vendor how hard it was to gain a permit for their truck and how often their food is checked for safety. They notice that the people entering the tall building in front of them wear fancy suits, and that there appears to be a line of janitorial workers on strike in front of the building, demanding a living wage. They note that a recent city ordinance made it more difficult for labor unions to organize and wonder how this might be linked to a new “Help Wanted” sign on the door, “Janitorial Help wanted, $12/hour.”
My job as a sociology professor is to teach students how to see the world using this more critical lens, so they can ask better questions about the world. Because asking better questions is the first step in making the world a better place to be.
How can sociology help you understand the world better? How can I help you ask better questions?