Michael Joseph Jackson Matrix of Relationalities

Michael Joseph Jackson Matrix of Relationalities

C. Wright Mills described the sociological imagination as a “mindset” one adopts to discern the relations between individual and society, biography and history, and self and the world. In doing so the sociologist seeks to reveal the connections between “personal troubles” and “public issues.” Revealing these connections is the “promise of sociology.” I suggested a more contemporary rendering of this formulation is to think of individuals not as atomized and singularized beings, but rather as complex sets of relationalities constituted through experiences and identities that are biographical, gendered, racial/ethic, nationalized, sexualized, classed, religious, and tribal, all of which have a historical dimension.

In this paper, research the case of a particular individual (not yourself, or someone in your family or someone you know), and analyze the relation between his or her personal troubles/experiences and the matrix of relationalities in which she or he is embedded. There is no restriction on which individual you choose to analyze. For instance, you could take the case of Michael Brown (who was shot dead by a police officer), or the case of Brian Williams (the NBC anchor who embellished the news). Or there have been a number of individuals in NFL football who have got into trouble over domestic violence. Or you could look at a famous individual in history like Malcolm X, who went through a number of transformations before being assassinated fifty years ago this week. The individual cases you could choose are almost endless, but if in doubt check with your TA. Your paper should show how the troubles/experiences of individuals can be explained by sociological analysis rather than the psychology or moral status of those individuals.

You must use outside (primary) sources, such as newspapers, articles, books, the web etc. to document the facts of the particular case, and use material from the textbook and other texts (many are cited in the text) to construct your sociological analysis. You should cite at least four outside sources and four sociology texts. Use quotations when citing verbatim. If paraphrasing another source you should also cite it. You may use inline citations (in parenthesis in your text), footnotes, or endnotes, just be consistent. Provide a bibliography of sources. Your paper should be no less than four and no more than five pages, doubled spaced, with 1.25 inch margins, and 12-point Times New Roman typeface.

Pages: 5, double spaced

Citation: MLA