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Quote by C. Wright Mills

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C. Wright Mills
C. Wright Mills

C. Wright Mills was an American sociologist known for his research on power structures and social conflict. His work emphasized the impact of social structures on individual lives and introduced the concept of 'the sociological imagination'. more

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“A society that is in its higher circles and middle levels widely believed to be a network of smart rackets does not produce men with an inner moral sense; a society that is merely expedient does not produce men of conscience. A society that narrows the meaning of 'success' to the big money and in its terms condemns failure as the chief vice, raising money to the plane of absolute value, will produce the sharp operator and the shady deal. Blessed are the cynical, for only they have what it takes to succeed.”

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Author:C. Wright Mills
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“The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true. The specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning.”

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Author:Robert K. Merton
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“Max Weber was right in subscribing to the view that one need not be Caesar in order to understand Caesar. But there is a temptation for us theoretical sociologists to act sometimes as though it is not necessary even to study Caesar in order to understand him. Yet we know that the interplay of theory and research makes both for understanding of the specific case and expansion of the general rule.”

KnowsNeedsSometimesOrderUnderstandingViewsCasesStudyTheoryResearchTemptationExpansionTheoreticalMaxSociologistsWeber
Author:Robert K. Merton
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