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Analysis Of Sociological Imagination By Charles Wright Mills

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It is important to exercise the application of sociology when attempting to find the cause of characteristics a group has acquired. The more someone is able to look beyond the immediate facades of a society, the more levels of reality will become apparent. When analyzing Native Americans, we see that Native Americans as an ethnic group have very high rates of unemployment, alcoholism, and poor health. Sociological analysis through Charles Wright Mills’ sociological imagination, helps explain why these defining traits are characteristics of Native American life today.
Charles Wright Mills’ idea about the sociological imagination aids the explanation of unemployment, alcoholism, and poor health among Native Americans. Through analysis of the sociological imagination, we see that problems Native Americans face within society have social roots and are shared by many others. Particularly, examination of Lakota Woman will …show more content…

That is, examination of Lakota Woman will enable the individual - Mary Crow Dog in this specific dissection – to understand how her biography is connected to the structure and history of Native American society. Additionally, it will help demonstrate why unemployment, alcoholism, and poor health among Native Americans have sociological causes.
In using the sociological imagination to explain alcoholism in Native American life today, a personal trouble must be identified. Mary Crow Dog states that she began to drink because it was the natural way of life (45). “I use to be a heavy drinker and I came close to being an out-and-out alcoholic - very close” (44). Mary Crow Dog explains how she did not like the feeling of waking up feeling sick, but

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