C. Wright Mills: A Sociological Analysis

Part 1:
The sociological imagination is a term created by C. Wright Mills. It refers to the ability to differentiate between “personal troubles and social (or public) issues” (Murray, Linden, & Kendall, 2014 p. 5) as well as being able to understand how they can be linked to one another. For example, a depressed individual can be considered a personal problem, but if the perspective is changed to a broader view, it can be observed that depression among many people is a major issue for society as a whole. The sociological imagination allows one to see that there may be a more serious cause of this issue, rather than just one person being ill. It allows us to see how personal troubles can be “placed into a larger social context” (Murray
It first started out as just a personal trouble. People were insecure about their weight and wanted to fit in with society, forcing some individuals to go on diets or start working out to obtain a more appealing body. Eating disorders started becoming more common after the 1950’s when Marilyn Monroe, the “sex icon”, had passed away. Over the years, the ‘ideal body’ has become more and more skinny. Anorexia was considered to be a personal issue at this time because not many people had made it known that they were trying to make themselves skinnier. As soon as the media started making it clear that the ‘perfect body’ was supposed to be tall and skinny, the outbreak began. With the help of the sociological imagination, it could be observed that social factors, including media, enforced individuals to start thinking about body image a certain way. The overwhelming amount of advertisements featuring skinny models started to subconsciously manipulate individuals into wanting to look the same
((Murray et al., 2014 p. 25) In this case, media puts skinny girls on a higher pedestal than girls who are heavier. Many men and women started conforming to the ‘ideal images’ portrayed by the media, making it clear to see the distinction that body image is not just a personal trouble, but in fact a social issue as people were all taking drastic measures in hopes of achieving the same outcome. One of the most important components of the sociological imagination is differentiating between private problems and social issues, and as Mills writes, the distinction is an “essential tool”. (C. Wright Mills, 1959, p. 4) This public issue of body image has clearly caused personal troubles, which means the society as a whole should be figuring out a way to stop this issue from becoming any worse. Body image would not be as much of an issue if the media did not put such a big emphasis on looking a certain way. Some companies have actually realized the outcome of putting so much stress on the importance of being skinny and created campaigns against it. Dove, for example, has started a campaign for ‘real beauty’ featuring models of all shapes and sizes making it clear that you do not need to look a certain way to be beautiful. If more companies start to do this, body image would not be as big of a deal to men and women around the