Sociology
C. Wright Mills' concept of a "public issue" refers to societal problems that transcend individual experiences and are rooted in larger social structures. He emphasized the importance of understanding how personal troubles, such as unemployment or poverty, are often connected to broader systemic forces like economic inequality or political corruption. Mills argued that recognizing these connections empowers individuals to see their personal challenges as part of collective societal issues, fostering social awareness and potential change. This perspective encourages critical thinking about the interplay between individual lives and larger social dynamics.
C. Wright Mills recommended that individuals use their sociological imagination to connect their personal troubles to larger social issues. By recognizing the relationship between individual experiences and social structures, people can better understand the broader impact of their personal problems and potentially work towards systemic change.
I think the most talked about issue is all about Climate Change...
the committee talked about the issue:]
we just talked about this in Social Studies, machine guns, gas masks, and other stuff a can't remember. story of my life.
They were both angry, but then they talked things out. My mom talked to the cashier about the new coupons. I talked to my dad on the phone every morning.
25 cents.
Yes, in political terms, same-sex marriage is classified as a social issue, as is abortion. It is not primarily an economic issue, a health issue, an education issue, a national security issue, or a foreign policy issue.
Gathering information on the issue
There are many social issues that could be the most important to you. Some people think bullying is the most important social issue to them for example.
You get the sense of feeling trapped because you are aware of the troubles in your life and you do not know how to overcome them. To overcome the sense of feeling trapped you must see and understand that the troubles are caused by the structure of society, and/or the failure of one or most of the society's institutions. From Mills, we learn that overcoming this "trapped" feeling, is social imagination. Social imagination allows you to understand life in a larger picture. Enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society. "Consider marriage. Inside a marriage a man and a woman may experience personal troubles, but when the divorce rate during the first four years of marriage is 250 out of every 1,000 attempts, this is an indication of a structural issue having to do with the institutions of marriage and the family and other institutions that bear upon them" (The Sociological Imagination, 1959, p. 9).
Explain the major social issue that the protagonist is facing in your novel. What impact does this issue have on the protagonist's actions and emotions? How does the social issue impact the protagonist's relationships with others?