Question

What does it mean when the author said, "define the meaning of the social sciences for the cultural tasks of our time" in the book Sociological Imagination?

Answer 1

Mills announces the purpose of his book: "to describe the meaning of the social sciences for the cultural tasks of our time." He intends to demonstrate the consequences of sociological imagination for political and cultural life and to clarify what is required to possess such an imagination. His view of what is useful in the social sciences is in contrast to the views of his contemporaries, whom he chides for their bureaucratic methods and "methodological pretensions." In the view of the scholar, classical social analysis of the preceding period is more useful than the current trend. Mills attempts to restrict his topic to the area of sociology, as it has become the focal point for the other social sciences. In sociology, he will discuss three current paths, each of which undergoes distortion by modern sociology practitioners. Such three "tendencies" are geared towards (1) a theory of history, (2) a systemic theory of man and culture, which Mills calls "grand theory," and (3) an empirical analysis of contemporary facts and problems. Chapters 2–6 discuss the contradictions of one or more of those patterns. Such developments also carry the promise of sociology and the social sciences, and in Chapters 7–10, Mills further elaborates on that promise.