ThePromise

C. WrightMills
"The Promise," published in 1959 by C. Wright Mills, is probably the most
famous essay ever written by a modern sociologist. In this article, Mills cap-
tures the essential lesson of sociologr': To trulv understand people's behav-
iot we must look beyond those individuals to the larger social contexts in
which they live. Individuals make choices, to be sure, but their choices are
constrained by social, historical, cultural, political, and economic factors.
Most important, people frequentlv do not even realize the extent to which
their lives are affected by things that are external to them and outside of
their control. Mills's point is that if we are to understand people's behavior,
we must take into account these nonindividual factors. (This is not an espe-
cially easy article to read, but it is fundamental. You might find it helpful to
read the section on Mills in The Practical Skeptic:Core Conceptsin Sociology,
chapter 2,before you tackle this reading.)

Nowadays men often feel that their private Underlying this senseof being trapped are
lives are a seriesof traps.They sensethat within seemingly impersonal changes in the very
their everyday worlds, they cannot overcome structure of continent-wide societies. The
their troubles, and in this feeling, they are often facts of contemporary history are also facts
quite correct'\A/hat ordinary men are directly about the successand the failure of individ-
aware of and what they try to do are bounded ual men and women. When a society is in-
by the private orbits in which they live; their vi- dustrialized, a peasantbecomesa worker; a
sions and their powers are limited to the close- feudal lord is liquidated or becomesa busi-
up scenesof job,family, neighborhood;in other nessman.When classesrise or fall, a man is
milieuxl they move vicariously and remain employed or unemployed; when the rate of
spectators.And the more aware they become, investment goes up or down, a man takes
however vaguely, of ambitions and of threats new heart or goes broke. When wars happen,
which transcend their immediate locales, the an insurance salesman becomes a rocket
more ffappe{ they seemto feel. launcheu a store clerk, a radar man; a wife
lives alonei a child grows up without a father.
Neither the life of an individual nor the his-
lMilieux is French; it means "social environments." (Milieux ts
tory of a society can be understood without
plwal; milieu is singular.) - Ed.
understandingboth.
"The Promise" ftom Sociologicallmagination by C. Wright Mills.
Copyright @ "1959,2000 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Used Yet men do not usually define the troubles
by permission of Oxford Universi$ Press,lnc. they endure in terms of historical change and
2 c. wRrcHTMrLLs

institutional contradictirr2 The well-being ward into all that is modem, advanced, and
they enjoy, they do rot Guatly impute to the fearful. Political colonies are freed; new and
big ups and dowrs of OE saL'ties in which lessvisible forms of imperialism installed. Rev-
they live. Seldmr awar€ of fte intricate con- olutions occur; men feel the intimate grip of
nection betrreelr ttc pamns of their own new kinds of authority. Totalitarian societies
lives and thecqr-of world history, ordinary rise, and are smashd to bits-or succeedfabu-
men do not uflnlly lcruv what this connec- lously. After two centuries of ascendancy,capi-
tion means for OE Hnds of men they are be- talism is shown up as only one way to make
coming and fr OE Hnds of history-making in society into an industrial apparatus. After two
which Otey udglil ake part. They do not pos- cenfuries of hope, even formal democracy is re-
sessthe quaEty d mind essendal to grasp the stricted to a quite small portion of mankind.
interphy of uranand sciety, of biography and Everywhere in the underdeveloped world,
history, of setr and world. They cannot cope ancient ways of life are broken up and vague
wift fteir pefsral tsoubles in such ways as to expectations become urgent demands. Every-
control ttn stnrtural transformations that usu- where in the overdeveloped world, the means
dly lie b€fdnd OErL of authority and of violence become total in
Sutly it b rp wonder. In what period have scope and bureaucratic in form. Humanity it-
so Euny ssr been so totally exposed at so fast self now lies before us/ the super-nation at ei-
a pre b sudr earthquakes of change? That ther pole concentrating its most coordinated
Arrsizns have not known such catastrophic and massive efforts upon the preparation of
changesas have the men and women of other World War Three.
sci€tb is due to historical facts that are now The very shaping of history now outpaces
qut*ty becorring "merely history." The history the ability of men to orient themselvesin ac-
drat rnw afu every nurn is world history. cordance with cherished values. And which
Wiftin this scrne and this period in the course values? Even when they do not panic, men
of a single gerreration,one sixth of mankind is often sense that older ways of feeling and
transfomed from all that is feudal and back- thinking have collapsed and that newer be-
ginnings are ambiguous to the point of moral
stasis.Is it any wonder that ordinary men feel ,
q\.{ilb b rdng 0rc term institution in its sociological sense-
th-eycannot cope with the larger worlds with /
whi{r b a tit different from the way this term is used in every-
day or corlmtional speech. To the sociologist, institution which they are so suddenly confronted? That/
re'fets to a n of xcial anangemmts, an acceptedway of resoloing they cannot understand the meaning of their
inpttutt slr:ial problems. Thus, the institution of the family is epoch for their own lives? That-in defenseof
our sciety's way of resolving the important social problem of
raising children. The institution of the economy is how we re- selfhood-they become morally insensible,
solve tlre problem of distributing goods and services (for ex- trying to remain altogether private men? Is it
ample, in tlre case of the United States, capitalism). The con- any wonder that they come to be possessedby
c€pt of institutional contradiction refers to situations in which
tlre demands of one institution are not compatible with the de- a senseof the trap?
mands of another institution. For example, there is institu- It is not only information that they need -
tional contradiction when the institution of the family is based in this Age of Fact, information often domi-
on the norm that dad goes to work and mom stays home with
the kids but the institution of the economy is such that it takes nates their attention and overwhehns their ca-
two employed adults to support a family. You will find more pacities to assimilateit. It is not only the skills
examples of institutional contradictions in reading 2 by of reason that they need-although their
Stephanie Coontz. You can read more about the nature of in-
stitutirns in The Practical SkEtic: Core ConcEts in Sociology, struggles to acquire these often exhaust their
chaptbr 9, "Society and Social Institutions." -Ed. limited moral energy.
 I:. I': - -'

What they need, and what they feel they generation to the rrt'r.t.i:r :.\'::'.!' .. , '
need, is a quality of mind that will help them lives out a biographr', <rnr1in,r :'r ... -
to use information and to develop reason in within some historical sequ.'n... ii'. ::', '
order to achieve lucid summations of what is his living he contributes, hon'c'r'tr i::' ..i, . .
going on in the world and of what may be the shaping of this society anci to ti1t...'-::x
happening within themselves. It is this qual- its history, even as he is made bt' str.it:', .-':'..:
ity, I am going to contend, that journalists and by its historical push and shove.
scholars, artists and publics, scientists and The sociological imagination enableS uS tt'
editors are coming to expect of what may be grasp history and biography and the relatiorr:
called the sociological imagination. between the two within society.That is its t.rsk
and its promise. . . . And it is the signal of n'h.-rt
1 is best in contemporary studies of man ancl
society.
The sociological imagination enables its pos- No social study that does not come back to
sessorto understand the larger historical scene the problems of biography, of history and of
in terms of its meaningfor the inner life and the their intersections within a society has com-
externalcareerof a variety of individuals. It en- pleted its intellectual journey. Whatever the
ableshim to take into accounthow individuals, specific problems of the classic social analysts,
in the welter of their daily experience,often be- however limited or however broad the fea-
come falsely consciousof their socialpositions. tures of social reality they have examined,
Within that welter. the framework of modern those who have been imaginatively aware of
society is sought, and within that framework the promise of their work have consistently
the psychologies of a variety of men and asked three sorts of questions:
women are formulated. By such meansthe per-
sonaluneasinessof individuals is focusedupon L. What is the structure of this particular
explicit troubles and the indifferenceof publics society as a whole? What are its essen-
is transformed into involvement with public tial components, and how are they re-
issues. lated to one another? How does it differ
The first fruit of this imagination-and the from other varieties of social order?
first lesson of the social sciencethat embodies Within it, what is the meaning of any
it-is the idea that the individual can under- particular feature for its continuance
stand his own experienceand gauge his own and for its change?
fate on-lyby locating himself within his period, 2. Where does this society stand in human
that he can know his own chancesin life only history? What are the mechanics by
by becoming aware of those of all individuals which it is changing? \Atrhatis its place
in his circumstances.In many ways it is a terri- within and its meaning for the develop-
ble lesson; in many ways a magnificent one. ment of humanity as a whole? How
We do not know the limits of man's capacities does any particular feature we are ex-
for supreme effort or willing degradation, for amining affect, and how is it affected by,
agony or glee, for pleasurablebrutality or the the historical period in which it moves?
sweetnessof reason.But in our time we have And this period - what are its essential
come to know that the limits of "human na- features? How does it differ from other
ture" are frighteningly broad. We have come to periods? What are its characteristic
linow that every individual lives, from one ways of history-making?
4 c. wnrcHT MrLLs

3. \44ratvarieties of men and women now realization trf :t\:.i. :r-..i:rvitvand of the trans-
prevail in this society and in this pe- formative p(r\\ tr .ri r.:-ior\:. The sociological
riod? And what varietiesare coming to imagination is tht nr.*i iruitful form of this
prevail?In what ways are they selected self-consciousnes:.Br li- u:r' men whose men-
and formed, liberatedand repressed, talities have sn'ept oni\ .t -trirx of limited or-
made sensitiveand blunted?What bits often come to ieel .r: ri .udelenlv awakened
kinds of "human nature" are revealed in a house with which thev h.rclonlv supposed
in the conductand characterwe observe themselves to be familiar. C('rrLrthi or incor-
in this societvin this period?And what rectly, they often come to fet'l th.rt thev can now
is the meaningfor "human nature" of provide themselves with ac'ltgu.1te surnma-
eachand even' featureof the societywe tions, cohesive assessments,comprehensive ori-
areexamining? entations. Older decisions that once appeared
sound now seem to them products of a mind
l{hether the pelnl of interest is a great unaccountably dense. Their capacih' for aston-
po\\'er stateor a minor lite-ran'mood, a family, ishment is made lively again. Th"y acquire a
a prison,a creed- theseare the kinds of ques- new way of thinking, they experience a trans-
tions the bestsociaianalvstshave asked.They valuation of values; in a word, by their reflec-
are the intellectualpivots of classicstudiesof tion and by their sensibiliry they realize the
man in society-and they are the questionsin- cultural meaning of the social sciences.
evitablyraisedby any mind possessingthe so-
ciologicalimagination.For that imaginationis 2
the capacity to shift from one perspectiveto
another-from the political to the psvchologi- Perhaps the most fruitful distinction with
cali from examination of a single familv to which the sociologicalimagination works is
comparativeassessmentof the national bud- between"the personaltroublesof milieu" and
gets of the world; from the theological school "the public issues of social structure." This
to the military establishment;from considera- distinctionis an essentialtool of the sociologi-
tions of an oil industry to studiesof contempo- cal imagination and a feature of all classic
rary poetry. It is the capacity to range from the work in socialscience.
most impersonal and remote transformations - Trouhlesoccur within the characterof the in-
to the most intimate features of the human dividual and n'ithin the range of his immedi-
self-and to seethe relationsbetweenthe two. ate relationswith others;they have to do with
Back of its use there is always the urge to his self and with thoselimited areasof social
know the social and historical meaning of the life of which he is directly and personally
individual in the society and in the period in aware.Accordingly, the statementand the res-
which he has his quality and his being. olution of troubles properly lie within the indi-
That, in brief, is why it is by means of the vidual as a biological entity and within the
sociologicalimagination that men now hope scopeof his immediatemilieu-the socialset-
to graspwhat is going on in the world, and to ting that is directly open to his personal expe-
understand what is happening in themselves rience and to someextent his willful activity.A
as minute points of the intersectionsof biog- trouble is a private matter: values cherishedby
raphy and history within society. In large an individual are felt by him to be threatened.
part, contemporary man's self-conscious Issueshaveto do with mattersthat transcend
view of himself as at leastan outsidet if not a theselocal environmentsof the individual and
permanent stranger,rests upon an absorbed the range of his inner life. They have to do with
 ILr hrr :'

the organization of many such milieux into the political, familv and religrousursotuh.rr! -€
institutions of an historical society as a whole, the unorganized irresponsibilin' or a h \rr^:, .a
with the ways in which various milieux over- nation-states.
lap and interpenetrate to form the larger struc- Consider marriage. Inside a rratrlaff I
ture of social and historical life. An issue is a man and a woman mav experienceFr.rrrrai
public matter: some value cherished by publics troubles, but when the divorce rate dunnt :!x
is felt to be threatened. Often there is a debate first four years of marriage is 250 out of etqn
about what that value really is and about what 1,000attempts, this is an indication of a srru.--
it is that really threatens it. This debate is often tural issue having to do with the institutrons
without focus if only becauseit is the very na- of marriage and the family and other institu-
ture of an issue, unlike even widespread trou- tions that bear upon them.
ble, that it cannot very well be defined in terms Or consider the metropolis-the horrible.
of the immediate and everyday environments beaufiful, ugly, magnificent sprawl of the great
of ordinary men. An issue, in fact, often in- city. For many upper-classpeople,the personal
volves a crisis in institutional arrangements, solution to "the problem of the city" is to have
and often too it involves what Marxists call an apartrnent with private garage under it in
"contradictions" or "antagonisms." the heart of the city, and forty miles out, a house
In these terms, consider unemployment. by Henry Hill, garden by Garrett Eckbo, on a
\A/heruin a city of 100,000,only one man is un- hundred acresof private land. In thesetwo con-
employed, that is his personal trouble, and for trolled environments -with a small staff at each
its relief we properly look to the character of end and a private helicopter connection-most
the man, his skills, and his immediate oppor- people could solve many of the problems of
tunities. But when in a nation of 50 million personal milieux causedby the facts of the city.
employees, 15 million men are unemployed, But all this, however splendid, does not solve
that is an issue, and we may not hope to find the public issues that the structural fact of the
its solution within the range of opportunities city poses.What should be done with this won-
open to any one individual. The very struc- derful monstrosity? Break it all up into scat-
ture of opportunities has collapsed. Both the tered units, combining residenceand work? Re-
correct statement of the problem and the furbish it as it stands? Or, after evacuatioo
range of possible solutions require us to con- dynamite it and build new cities according to
sider the economicand political institutions of new plans in new places? \,Vhat should those
the society,and not merely the personal situa- plans be?And who is to decide and to accom-
tion and character of a scatter of individuals. plish whatever choiceis made?Theseare struc-
Consider war. The personal problem of fural issues;to confront them and to solve them
war, when it occurs,may be how to survive it requires us to consider political and economic
or how to die in it with honor; how to make issuesthat affect innumerable milieux.
money out of i! how to climb into the higher In so far as an economy is so arranged that
safety of the military apparatus; or how to slumps occur, the problem of unemployment
contribute to the war's termination. In short, becomesincapable of personal solution. In so
according to one's values, to find a set of mi- far as war is inherent in the nation-state sys-
lieux and within it to survive the war or make tem and in the uneven industrialization of the
one's death in it meaningful. But the struc- world, the ordinary individual in his restricted
fiural issuesof war have to do with its causes; milieu will be powerless-with or without
with what types of men it throws up into psychiatric aid-to solve the troubles this sys-
command; with its effectsupon economicand tem or lack of systemimposesupon him. Lr so
6 c. wnrcnr MrLLS

far as the family as an institution tums women structural changes.Accordingly, to understand

into darling little slaves and men into their the changes of many personal milieux we are
chief providers and unweaned dependents, required to look beyond them. And the num-
the problem of a satisfactory marriage remains ber and variety of such structural changesin-
incapable of purely private solution. In so far as creaseas the institutions within which we live
the overdeveloped megalopolis and the overde- becomemore embracing and more intricately
veloped automobile are built-in features of the connected with one another. To be aware of
overdeveloped societv, tlre issues of urban liv- the idea of social structure and to use it with
ing will not be solved by personal ingenuity sensibility is to be capableof tracing such link-
and private wealtlr- ages among a great variety of milieux. To be
What rve experience in various and spe- able to do that is to possessthe sociological
cific milieux, I have noted, is often causedby imagination....

Questions
1 . t\}Et is the sociologicalimagination? (You 3. What are "personal troubles of milieu"?
might betin vvith quoting Mills's definition, What are "public issuesof social structure"?
but tn' to describe this phenomenon in your lAy'hydoes Mills say that the distinction be-
os.rr n'ords as well.) tween troubles and issuesis "an essential
tool of the sociologicalimagination"?
In brief, n'hat kinds of questions are asked by
those rr'ho possessa sociological imagination?