Social Construction and the Sociological Imagination
Introduction Sociology examines the relationship between individual experience and the wider social structures in which people live. Two concepts are particularly useful for this purpose: the sociological imagination and the social construction of reality. The first, associated most strongly with C. Wright Mills, encourages people to connect personal experiences with historical and institutional conditions. The second examines how meanings, categories, and taken-for-granted understandings are produced through social interaction. Together, these

