The Myth Of The Free Society
November 24th 2006 10:00
:
ESSAY
The Myth of the Free Society
Sociology is the exploration of self and world and the interwoven labyrinth that lies between them. In order to grasp the reality of this phenomenon, it is essential to use what the discipline of sociology calls the Sociological Imagination. Within this framework, the sociological mystery draws closer to an alternate future. By examining and analyzing the historical, cultural, critical, structural and emotional aspects of the Sociological Imagination, the intimate relationship/s between personal experience and the historical and contemporary world become manifest.
For American sociologist C.Wright Mills (1916-1962), the original advocate of the Sociological Imagination, it was a call that requested the viewing of individual biography amidst the societal structuring of the past and present worlds. It was to instigate self-awareness or incite a reflexive view of self and ultimately situation. All it necessitated was a quality of mind, a Sociological Imagination (Mills,1970,11)
Mills (1970, 9) believed that an individuals personal experience was caught up in the intricate webbing that social structures instilled. It was within this realm that one lives out a biography and a destiny, a destiny moulded by bureaucratic boundaries, both implicit and explicit. As it is, ordinary individuals are stringently bounded by the private orbits, in which they move, and so their visions and their powers are limited to their typified milieu (Mills,1970, 9).
In a sense, these illegitimated actors lack the ability to perceive that their existence, their ups and downs are related to the seemingly impersonal changes in the structure of continent-wide societies, and the institutional contradictions that rode astonishingly high on the back of sweeping changes created by the Industrial and French Revolutions (Mills,1970,9-10).
They do not grasp the interplay of man (sic) and society, for the type of men(sic) they are becoming and the history-making in which they may take part(Mills,1970,10). They do not conceive that both their well-being and ill-will are linked to the social structure that spawns their actions and reactions. Although society provides the scripts for all our dramatis personae, we are only captives by our own cooperation, (Berger, 1966,112,140).
What ordinary individuals cannot see is that their personal troubles formulate to public issues, that their employment or unemployment is tied to the very structure of society (Mills,1970,9). What Mills (1970,22) ultimately conveys in his Sociological Imagination, is that its task and its promise are for reflexive consciousness that relays an understanding of the ultimate realities of ourselves in connexion (sic) with larger social realities (Mills,1970,10,22)
Formal democracy is restricted to quite a small portion of mankind(sic), The realization that all such sensibilities including human reason itself will come to play a greater role in human affairs,(Mills,1970,10,22). To rephrase, the Sociological Imagination could skillfully combine the personal, the collective, and the historical in an interwoven totality, to achieve progressive movement, namely in the form of rebellion and revolt (Eyerman,1989,544). Entrapment is only present in the incapacitated mind, the mind that cannot formulate uneasiness and indifference (Mills,1970,18-19).
It is easy to see how the utilization of such an imagination can lend itself to the discipline of sociology, whose preoccupation is societal interaction. Sociologists such as A.Giddens and E.Wills make no qualms about its effectiveness. In fact, both have written interpretations of Mills vision. What is important to note about their renditions is that they make no real elaborations to the original piece. Their developments are merely superficial. They bracket Mills ideas into three neat little sensibilities, historical, cultural and critical, with Wills (1995) extending his into a fourth dimension - structural. It appears as an extension, in reality it is no more than a clear-cut re-working. The only definitive difference comes from Wills use of contemporary examples to illustrate his point, or should I say Mills? Furthermore, they miss Mills vision.
Wills discussion of the structural sensibility demonstrates what Mills(1970) had discerned three decades earlier. Willis(1995,11) sizes up the present factor of structural determinism and the stranglehold it exerts on free-will. Secondly, he stresses (as did Mills) the need to look beyond, as Mills(1970,11) would say, the psychologies of individuals, in order to understand social phenomena (Willis,1995,11,110).
Willis (1995,11)echoing of Mills (1970,14) visionary work, comes in the connecting of personal troubles of milieu into the public issues of social structure. It is from this model that Wilis (1995,67) bases his structural sensibility, a sensibility that understands that sociological phenomena occur as a result of societal interactions (Willis,1995,11,66-67). To emphasize the relationship between unemployment and structure, Willis (1995,36) stresses the chameleon influences modern world infrastructure exerts on individual actors. Role players who are suddenly confronted with the real issue of being unemployed often feel a loss of self esteem that stems from the initial loss of income (Willis,1995,36). The intricate webbing of social structure becomes profoundly clear, with all aspects of life linked to societal structuring and meaning-systems.
On a social-psychological level, it is important to consider the value of the emotions in social role play and the sentiments they hold. Both Mills (1970) and Willis (1995) neglect the advent of emotional sentiment in human actions and interactions. Hochschild (1983,1989,1990) argued that social actors acquire the ability to adapt their emotional displays, exclusively to suit the action required. Hochschild (1983) makes the analogy with the example of the service industry: flight attendants, regardless of abuse are expected to maintain a pleasant and sympathetic manner (Deutscher, et a;., 1993,158).
Saying personal experience is influenced by social interaction is clearly not delving deep enough, for even within restricted milieu familiarity can lead to an almost infinite number of dramas (Deutscher, et al, 1993,160) Suffice to say, personal experience is influenced by society. But, individual experience is subject to its own intrigue.
Overall, sociologys utmost concern is one of intellectual enlightenment. The sociological imaginations ultimate concern is individual enlightenment. This paradox of influence conspires to create our biographies. Our possible futures therefore lie exclusively within our very own minds. To conceive this, is to perceive the quality of mind needed to see that freedom is: knowing all choice and feeling free to make choice. As C.Wright Mills might say, that is the Sociological Imaginations task and its promise.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berger,Peter L. (1996), Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective, Harmonsdworth, Penguin, 110-140.
Deutscher, I,. F. P. Pestello & H. F. G. Petello (1993), Sentiments and Acts, Aldine De Gruyter, New York, 158-161.
Eyerman, R. (1989), Social Movements: Between History and Sociology, Theory and Society: Renewal and Critique in Social Theory, 531-545.
Mills, C.W. (1970), The Sociological Imagination, Harmondsworth, Penguin.
Willis, E. (1995), The Sociological Quest: An Introduction to the Study of Social Life, Second Edition, Allen & Unwin.
Sociology is the exploration of self and world and the interwoven labyrinth that lies between them. In order to grasp the reality of this phenomenon, it is essential to use what the discipline of sociology calls the Sociological Imagination. Within this framework, the sociological mystery draws closer to an alternate future. By examining and analyzing the historical, cultural, critical, structural and emotional aspects of the Sociological Imagination, the intimate relationship/s between personal experience and the historical and contemporary world become manifest.
For American sociologist C.Wright Mills (1916-1962), the original advocate of the Sociological Imagination, it was a call that requested the viewing of individual biography amidst the societal structuring of the past and present worlds. It was to instigate self-awareness or incite a reflexive view of self and ultimately situation. All it necessitated was a quality of mind, a Sociological Imagination (Mills,1970,11)
Mills (1970, 9) believed that an individuals personal experience was caught up in the intricate webbing that social structures instilled. It was within this realm that one lives out a biography and a destiny, a destiny moulded by bureaucratic boundaries, both implicit and explicit. As it is, ordinary individuals are stringently bounded by the private orbits, in which they move, and so their visions and their powers are limited to their typified milieu (Mills,1970, 9).
In a sense, these illegitimated actors lack the ability to perceive that their existence, their ups and downs are related to the seemingly impersonal changes in the structure of continent-wide societies, and the institutional contradictions that rode astonishingly high on the back of sweeping changes created by the Industrial and French Revolutions (Mills,1970,9-10).
They do not grasp the interplay of man (sic) and society, for the type of men(sic) they are becoming and the history-making in which they may take part(Mills,1970,10). They do not conceive that both their well-being and ill-will are linked to the social structure that spawns their actions and reactions. Although society provides the scripts for all our dramatis personae, we are only captives by our own cooperation, (Berger, 1966,112,140).
What ordinary individuals cannot see is that their personal troubles formulate to public issues, that their employment or unemployment is tied to the very structure of society (Mills,1970,9). What Mills (1970,22) ultimately conveys in his Sociological Imagination, is that its task and its promise are for reflexive consciousness that relays an understanding of the ultimate realities of ourselves in connexion (sic) with larger social realities (Mills,1970,10,22)
Formal democracy is restricted to quite a small portion of mankind(sic), The realization that all such sensibilities including human reason itself will come to play a greater role in human affairs,(Mills,1970,10,22). To rephrase, the Sociological Imagination could skillfully combine the personal, the collective, and the historical in an interwoven totality, to achieve progressive movement, namely in the form of rebellion and revolt (Eyerman,1989,544). Entrapment is only present in the incapacitated mind, the mind that cannot formulate uneasiness and indifference (Mills,1970,18-19).
It is easy to see how the utilization of such an imagination can lend itself to the discipline of sociology, whose preoccupation is societal interaction. Sociologists such as A.Giddens and E.Wills make no qualms about its effectiveness. In fact, both have written interpretations of Mills vision. What is important to note about their renditions is that they make no real elaborations to the original piece. Their developments are merely superficial. They bracket Mills ideas into three neat little sensibilities, historical, cultural and critical, with Wills (1995) extending his into a fourth dimension - structural. It appears as an extension, in reality it is no more than a clear-cut re-working. The only definitive difference comes from Wills use of contemporary examples to illustrate his point, or should I say Mills? Furthermore, they miss Mills vision.
Wills discussion of the structural sensibility demonstrates what Mills(1970) had discerned three decades earlier. Willis(1995,11) sizes up the present factor of structural determinism and the stranglehold it exerts on free-will. Secondly, he stresses (as did Mills) the need to look beyond, as Mills(1970,11) would say, the psychologies of individuals, in order to understand social phenomena (Willis,1995,11,110).
Willis (1995,11)echoing of Mills (1970,14) visionary work, comes in the connecting of personal troubles of milieu into the public issues of social structure. It is from this model that Wilis (1995,67) bases his structural sensibility, a sensibility that understands that sociological phenomena occur as a result of societal interactions (Willis,1995,11,66-67). To emphasize the relationship between unemployment and structure, Willis (1995,36) stresses the chameleon influences modern world infrastructure exerts on individual actors. Role players who are suddenly confronted with the real issue of being unemployed often feel a loss of self esteem that stems from the initial loss of income (Willis,1995,36). The intricate webbing of social structure becomes profoundly clear, with all aspects of life linked to societal structuring and meaning-systems.
On a social-psychological level, it is important to consider the value of the emotions in social role play and the sentiments they hold. Both Mills (1970) and Willis (1995) neglect the advent of emotional sentiment in human actions and interactions. Hochschild (1983,1989,1990) argued that social actors acquire the ability to adapt their emotional displays, exclusively to suit the action required. Hochschild (1983) makes the analogy with the example of the service industry: flight attendants, regardless of abuse are expected to maintain a pleasant and sympathetic manner (Deutscher, et a;., 1993,158).
Saying personal experience is influenced by social interaction is clearly not delving deep enough, for even within restricted milieu familiarity can lead to an almost infinite number of dramas (Deutscher, et al, 1993,160) Suffice to say, personal experience is influenced by society. But, individual experience is subject to its own intrigue.
Overall, sociologys utmost concern is one of intellectual enlightenment. The sociological imaginations ultimate concern is individual enlightenment. This paradox of influence conspires to create our biographies. Our possible futures therefore lie exclusively within our very own minds. To conceive this, is to perceive the quality of mind needed to see that freedom is: knowing all choice and feeling free to make choice. As C.Wright Mills might say, that is the Sociological Imaginations task and its promise.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berger,Peter L. (1996), Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective, Harmonsdworth, Penguin, 110-140.
Deutscher, I,. F. P. Pestello & H. F. G. Petello (1993), Sentiments and Acts, Aldine De Gruyter, New York, 158-161.
Eyerman, R. (1989), Social Movements: Between History and Sociology, Theory and Society: Renewal and Critique in Social Theory, 531-545.
Mills, C.W. (1970), The Sociological Imagination, Harmondsworth, Penguin.
Willis, E. (1995), The Sociological Quest: An Introduction to the Study of Social Life, Second Edition, Allen & Unwin.
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