Quotessence
Home / Authors / C. Wright Mills
C. Wright Mills

C. Wright Mills Quotes

Sociologist

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenPoliticalSocialWorldIssuesPeopleIndividualFirstsIfsKindMeanSocietySociologyCirclesConsequenceCorporationsDecisionEconomyFateInstitutions

Famous C. Wright Mills Quotes

“Ours is a time of uneasiness and indifference—not yet formulated in such ways as to permit the work of reason and the play of sensibility. Instead of troubles—defined in terms of values and threats—there is often the misery of vague uneasiness; instead of explicit issues there is often merely the beat feeling that all is somehow not right. Neither the values threatened nor whatever threatens them has been stated; in short, they have not been carried to the point of decision. Much less have they been formulated as problems of social science.”

ValuesIssuesSocietyThreats
Book:The Sociological Imagination
Create image

“It is the political task of the social scientist — as of any liberal educator — continually to translate personal troubles into public issues, and public issues into the terms of their human meaning for a variety of individuals. It is his task to display in his work — and, as an educator, in his life as well — this kind of sociological imagination. And it is his purpose to cultivate such habits of mind among the men and women who are publicly exposed to him. To secure these ends is to secure reason and individuality, and to make these the predominant values of a democratic society.”

MenMindHumansWellsKindEndsReasonPoliticalPurposeValuesIndividualSocialTermImaginationIssuesTroubleHe ManHabitMen And WomenTasksScientistDemocraticIndividualitySecureVarietyExposedDisplayTranslateEducatorDemocratic SocietySociologicalHabits Of Mind
Book:The Sociological Imagination
Create image

“Above all, do not give up your moral and political autonomy by accepting in somebody else's terms the illiberal practicality of the bureaucratic ethos or the liberal practicality of the moral scatter. Know that many personal troubles cannot be solved merely as troubles, but must be understood in terms of public issues and in terms of the problems of history making.”

KnowsGivingProblemPoliticalTermAcceptingMoralIssuesTroubleGiving UpUnderstoodNot Giving UpAutonomyEthosPracticalityDo Not Give UpHistory Making
Book:C. Wright Mills: Letters and Autobiographical Writings
Create image