All Politics Is A Struggle For Power;

The Sociological Imagination Enables Us To Grasp History And Biography And The Relations Between The Two Within Society. This Is Its Task And Its Promise.

The Mass Production Of Distraction Is Now As Much A Part Of The American Way Of Life As The Mass Production Of Automobiles.

It Is The Political Task Of The Social Scientist — As Of Any Liberal Educator — Continually To Translate Personal Troubles Into Public Issues, And Public Issues Into The Terms Of Their Human Meaning For A Variety Of Individuals. It Is His Task To Display In His Work — And, As An Educator, In His Life As Well — This Kind Of Sociological Imagination. And It Is His Purpose To Cultivate Such Habits Of Mind Among The Men And Women Who Are Publicly Exposed To Him. To Secure These Ends Is To Secure Reason And Individuality, And To Make These The Predominant Values Of A Democratic Society.

Power Is Not Of A Man. Wealth Does Not Center In The Person Of The Wealthy. Celebrity Is Not Inherent In Any Personality. To Be Celebrated, To Be Wealthy, To Have Power Requires Access To Major Institutions.

The Point Is That We Are Among Those Who Cannot Get Their Mouths Around All The Little Yeses That Add Up To Tacit Acceptance Of A World Run By Crackpot Realists And Subject To Blind Drift. And That, You See, Is Something To Which We Do Belong; We Belong To Those Who Are Still Capable Of Personally Rejecting. Our Minds Are Not Yet Captive.