The sociological imagination / C. Wright Mills ; with a new afterword by Todd Gitlin.

Originally published: 1959.

Includes index.

1. The promise -- 2. Grand theory -- 3. Abstracted empiricism -- 4. Types of practicality -- 5. The bureaucratic ethos -- 6. Philosophies of science -- 7. The human variety -- 8. Uses of history -- 9. On reason and freedom -- 10. On politics -- Appendix : on intellectual craftsmanship -- Acknowledgments -- Afterword / Todd Gitlin -- Index.

In this book, the author set forth his views on how social science should be pursued. The book took issue with the ascendant schools of sociology in the United States, calling for a humanist sociology connecting the social, personal, and historical dimensions of our lives. The author's view is a way of looking at the world that can see links between the apparently private problems of the individual and important social issues. This new edition contains an afterword by a current leading sociologist in which he considers the contributions the author made with his original work, and examines how his research relates to American society today.