The power of the sociological perspective lies not just in changing individual lives but in transforming society. As C. Wright Mills saw it, society, not people's personal failings, is the cause of poverty and other social problems. Using the sociological imagination, then, brings people together by turning personal problems into public issues.
In the following excerpt* Mills explains the need for a sociological imagination:
When a society becomes industrialized, a peasant becomes a worker; a feudal lord is liquidated or becomes a businessman. …
