The Dumbest Generation Thesis

Noted sociologist Charles Wright Mills, (better known as C. Wright Mills,) established the well renowned concept of the sociological imagination in 1959. This notion is the basis behind the thought process of any good sociologist. The sociological imagination enables us to move beyond the individualistic mindset that is often emphasized in our culture and society. The sociological imagination assists the everyday individual in understanding the complexities that make up the connections between past and present. The sociological imagination strives to understand the structure of society as a whole, along with where the specific society stands in human history and what its meaning is for humanity in its entirety, while taking into account the

Although I cannot personally say whether I full heartedly agree or disagree with Bauerlein’s standpoint, I do feel as though he made a number of solid arguments with reliable and valid evidence to support. When stepping outside of myself and thinking with a collectivist mindset and considering society as a whole, rather than my individual being, I do agree with the point that Bauerlein makes about the digital age pressuring an emphasis on instant gratification. I can also say that I most definitely agree that “the collective teen ego is a powerful thing.” However, even when applying the sociological imagination to inhibit an individualistic mindset, I still cannot find it in myself to agree with Bauerlein upon mentioning that he tells the students in his class that they are “lazy and ignorant. Bauerlein later mentions, ironically, that he feels that his colleagues, the humanity professors are to blame for the technologically consumed yet artistically and literarily lacking generation of millennials. I might also add that I personally feel like Bauerlein is overgeneralizing, per se, when it comes to the entirety of a