sociological imagination

noun

A framework for understanding social reality that places personal experiences within a broader social and historical context.

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Meanings

nounsociological imagination (countable and uncountable, plural sociological imaginations)

plural sociological imaginations

  1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesA framework for understanding social reality that places personal experiences within a broader social and historical context.

Origin

Coined by American sociologist C. Wright Mills in his 1959 book The Sociological Imagination.

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Cite this entry
APA

sociological imagination. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sociological%20imagination

MLA

“sociological imagination.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sociological%20imagination. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sociological imagination,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sociological%20imagination.

Source: sociological imagination on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.