Title: The Sociological Imaginary and Disability Enquiry in Late Modernity
Abstract: Mills’s idea of the sociological imagination has captured many generations of scholars interested in the difficult social issues that people grapple with in their lives. Yet, sociology has traditionally had a poor record of linking disabled people’s ‘private’ accounts of their difficulties to ‘public’ issues. We contend that disability is still marginal to the sociological imaginary, despite attempts by disability studies and subdisciplines within sociology to make the concept relevant to the larger discipline. There is a range of conceptual tensions in sociology such as public/private and normal/abnormal that can be better illuminated by focusing on disability. We argue that critical disability studies, with its reimagining of disability within late modernity, may be better positioned to make more effectively the case for disability’s significance to the sociological imaginary. Facilitating dialogue with sociology on the concept of disability, however, may require disability scholars to develop more explicit strategies of engagement.
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-03-30
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 15
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot