Mills and The Study of Sociology

The Mills article The Promise of Sociology examines humans and their perceptions about their place in the world.  Mills discusses 2 ideals, troubles and issues.  Troubles are the incidences in life that directly affect an individual.  These are the daily occurrences that people all go through.  These are local issues, or in essence, what happens close to home.  Issues are a more global concept that affects the greater of humanity.  Things such as war, unemployment rates, the economy.  The article looks at how both affect each of us as humans, though it may be easy to disconnect from Issues rather than Troubles, because Issues seem less personal.  The reality is we are all deeply affected by both, though we aren't always so quickly to understand this concept.  "To be aware of the idea of social structure and to use it with sensibility is to be capable of tracing such linkages among a great variety of milieux.  To be able to do that is to possess the sociological imagination..."(Mills, 15)

Class In America

The article Class in America gives excellent insight into the ability and actuality of individuals to make shifts from class to class.  It also was interesting how the article showed us that even though some of us and our families have made very little movement upward in class, many of us still hold tight to that American Dream and believe that we can make it big if we just try hard enough.  

Though I was not too surprised about where my family before me, and myself fall in the charts of class standing, the charts actually inspired me by showing me how far I have come beyond my family before me, and how far I have yet to go.  I am one of the individuals who believes in the American Dream that hard work pays off.  I have seen first hand where I have come from and how much I have achieved.  I do believe that upward mobility is an option and that I will continue to achieve it as long as I continue to work hard.