Classical Social Theory and the Sociology of C. Wright Mills

Abstract

C. Wright Mills is well known as a social critic, but rarely do sociologists give him credit as a social theorist. However, Mills was very much rooted in classical social theory, as it informed his social criticism. While Marx focused on manufacturing labor, Mills extends the analysis to modern white-collar and professional work by combining it with Weber’s concepts. The centralization of decision-making merges with the “formal rationality” of bureaucracy to destroy the white-collar worker’s freedom. Mills views the detailed division of labor as a characteristic of work in the modern world, based on the shift from an agriculturally based mode of production to one based on manufacturing, sales, and services. Mills identifies three forms of power in modern society: coercion or physical force; authority, which is attached to positions that others believe is justified by tradition or rationality; and manipulative power that is often wielded without the conscious knowledge of those subject to it.