Engaging the Sociological Imagination: An Invitation for the Twenty-First Century

When Albert Einstein said that "imagination is more important than knowledge," he proposed that humans are capable of knowing more and more while understanding less and less. This is certainly true for our times, where information comes quicker than ever before. Today, sociologists task themselves with developing a way of thinking that elucidates our complex and rapidly changing world. C. Wright Mills dubbed this "the sociological imagination."

The purpose of this book is not to flood the student with an excess of terms and facts, but rather to introduce the necessary concepts that facilitate an effective engagement with our world.

Engaging the Sociological Imagination: An Invitation for the Twenty-First Century supplies the ideas and context necessary for today's student to better understand where we are, where we have been, and where we might be going. It brings sociology into the twenty-first century.

Engaging the Sociological Imagination: An Invitation for the Twenty-First Century

• offers a sociological view of the world and discussing the importance and value of a sociological imagination 
• introduces a range of sociological concepts and principles that represent sociology as a whole
• provides orientation to the state and trajectory of sociology and of the world

Core ideas are illustrated with fresh examples and exciting discussions, and the student is invited not just to learn sociology, but to engage it. The student comes to understand how this engagement can advance a quality of thought, and thus assist in the human effort of bringing about a future worth anticipating.

Co-author John Curra was elected as the Foundation Professor at Eastern Kentucky University for 2005-2007, a very prestigious honor!