Chapter 1 Short Answers

What do you think C. Wright Mills meant when he said that to be a sociologist, one had to develop a sociological imagination?

Mills was saying that being a sociologist means seeing how your personal life connects to bigger social forces. Basically, your problems aren’t just yours—they’re tied to society.

What do you make of Karl Marx’s contributions to sociology? What perceptions of Marx have you been exposed to in your society, and how do those perceptions influence your views?

Marx talked a lot about class struggles and how money and power shape society. A lot of people see him only through the lens of communism, which sometimes hides how important his ideas about inequality really are.

Which theory do you think better explains how societies operate—structural functionalism or conflict theory? Why?

Functionalism says society works like a machine with parts that fit together, while conflict theory says society is about struggles over power and resources. Conflict theory usually makes more sense for explaining inequality and change.

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