Essay 1

DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN YOUR DECISION TO ATTEND COLLEGE USING THE

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
The sociologist C. Wright Mills coined the term sociological imagination and wrote that
this "enables us to grasp history and biography and to see the relations between the two
within society" (Mills 1959:6). The sociological imagination allows us to see how
problems that are experienced as personal, are actually social issues that are
experienced by others who share similar social contexts. In order to understand those
contexts, sociology ranges widely from how individual attributes (like race, class,
gender, education, religion, and so forth) are associated with differences in life course
outcomes, all the way up to the world of politics, government policies, technology and
the global economy and environment. At the core of all social contexts is a distinction
between social interaction and social structure. Think about these two separate ways of
analyzing social context - on the one hand, social interaction - the rules and norms to
which we respond when we interact with others - and on the other hand, social structure
- the enduring hierarchies and institutions of society (e.g. marriage, family, education,
and economic markets) and the organizations that organize and enforce these
relationships and ways of living. Write an essay about your decision to select
and attend college. Using your sociological imagination, identify how your
social context (e.g. your family, your neighborhood, your social and
economic status, your high school education) shaped your goals and
preferences and the ultimate outcome. In the essay, identify how your
biography is your own, while at the same time the ways that your life
unfolds is shaped by your membership in a particular social world.
Instructions for completing and submitting
This assignment is meant to be submitted in REVEL; however, I recognize the technical
problems students (and I) have experienced recently. As measure of insurance and
verification, I want you to do the following:
1) Write this essay in a Word document, so you have a permanent copy of your
work.
2) Upload your file to Blackboard under Uploaded Assignments, so I have a
permanent copy of your work and verification that you submitted your work by
the deadline.
3) Submit your essay through REVEL. To do this, log into REVEL and select this
exercise to complete. Copy and paste the text from your Word document to
REVELs writing box and submit your work. You should receive a grade and
feedback immediately. Record this grade and feedback (e.g., take a photo, screen
shot, write it down) so you have a permanent copy to show me in case we
encounter more technical problems with REVEL.
4) You must upload your essay to Blackboard by the deadline as indicated in
the syllabus.
5) You must submit your essay through REVEL, preferably before the deadline. I
recognize that you might encounter problems with REVEL, so I will not penalize

you if you do not mean the deadline for submitting through REVEL. However,
you will not receive a grade for your essay until your submission through REVEL
is complete. You have until the end of the semester to ensure this happens. Do
not procrastinate.