Critical Response Paper: The Promise of Sociology

Introduction

Mills tries to bring to the light that the things that each passes through can be grouped to be a social issue because almost every individual in the universe is affected by the same in one way or the other. For example in the occurrence of a war the economists will be concerned, family structures changed, living conditions get tough for everyone in the war zone despite the profession or age or the income. Mills tries to explain that through the use of pain learning is experienced. He goes ahead to bring out the link between biography, history, and traditions thus clearly illustrating the impact of the society on an individual or the group and vice versa. The questions Mills suggest that we use aimed at helping us understand and also illustrate the interrelation between human and society. Mills also differentiates the private troubles from public issues goes further to show that the private troubles result to public issues. The example he uses is unemployment which is personal trouble, but when many unemployed people are in an area, it becomes a public issue requiring a social solution.

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His arguments have strength in the aspect that apart from supporting each point by factual points, he illustrates through real-life examples. The real-life examples have made the argument stronger and to that effect ensured that it is relevant to the modern day society, for example, the instance on change in governance affecting the functioning of a country as a whole has been witnessed everywhere in the universe including the trend in Africa of removing the presidents who have overstayed in power or the change in the united states from the leadership of Barack Obama to Donald Trump, in both situations the shift in leadership has resulted in a change in the country. The other strength is the use of questions which keep readers busy and enlighten their mind as they try to answer the questions. The questions open a conversation between the writer and the reader which makes The Promise of sociology an exciting article to read. Mills also employs the strategy of appropriate timing by correctly timing the article since its relevance cannot be outdated. Mills begins the text by giving a promise to the readers on how to study the society and their world which he fulfills. His writing strategy also contributes to a reader keenly getting all his arguments since apart from the above mentioned he uses humor that making the text enjoyable to read.

Mills arguments have weakness of predicting the future because by doing so he does not get the predictions right which leads to doubt in his points. An example is each man living from one generation to another in future which may sound a reality since everyone desires something useful but with a continued increase in mortality rate, some people leave in a short period not to witness other generations apart from theirs. Mills third question also is not valid because rarely do people talk about the kind of people to prevail in future but how they as individuals will prevail in future.

The articles the promise and how to think like sociologists have one thing in common whereby they use regular flow to illustrate and bring out the main point. They expound on the point by using examples which remain relevant up to date. Both articles agree that for someone to understand the lives of individuals you have to understand the history of the society and vice versa. Both articles also focus on social groups and mainly focus on the effects and causes of changes in social life patterns. The two articles, however, have a difference in the perspective that the promise of sociology uses only questions which are left to the reader to ask and answer but how to think like a sociologist contains questions and answers well illustrated. The other difference is that how to think like a sociologist majorly uses examples of how the answers to the questions asked should be answered to transfer the knowledge to the learners, but the promise of sociology mainly uses real-life examples.

Conclusion

I strongly agree with Mills ideas about the promise of sociology. The text has convinced and helped me understand how in individuals and groups interact in the society through clear explanations. It has also been used to illustrate the inequalities that may be there and how to overcome them in the best way possible and that what sociology holds. Mills has as well used both own arguments, human nature arguments and society arguments to paint a clear picture to the reader which makes me agree with him. Each argument that Mills brings out he has substantial evidence to support the claim which makes the article more convincing. The article also is in line with his other work showing consistency. The text relevance till to date has also impacted my decision since the current situation is part of what Mills predicted.

Reference

C. Wright Mills. (1959). The Promise of Sociology.