Denzin, Mills, and the Prophetic Pragmatic Promise and Task of the Sociological Imagination

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Norman K. Denzin's vast and enduring contributions to sociology and the study of research methods and methodology, particularly with respect to “us[ing] the tools of the critical sociological imagination” (Denzin, 1989) as we conduct our research. Through revisiting and extending lessons and principles from his book The Research Act (1989) – especially the need for “triangulation” – in relation to C. Wright Mills' Sociological Imagination (1959), this chapter explores how cultivated critical sociological imaginations can help researchers best meet our “obligations to change the world, to engage in ethical work that makes a positive difference” (Denzin, 1989) throughout all phases of the research act.

Citation

Ignacio, E.N.S. (2022), "Denzin, Mills, and the Prophetic Pragmatic Promise and Task of the Sociological Imagination", Chen, S.-L.S. (Ed.) Festschrift in Honor of Norman K. Denzin (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 55), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 133-151. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-239620220000055016