The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills

The classic social analyst has avoided any rigid set of procedures; he has sought to develop and to use in his work the sociological imagination. Repelled by the association and disassociation of Concepts, he has used more elaborated terms only when he has had good reason to believe that by their use he enlarges the scope of his sensibilities, the precision of his references, the depth of his reasoning. He has not been inhibited by method and technique; the classic way has been the way of the intellectual craftsman.

Useful discussions of method as well as of theory usually arise as marginal notes on work-in-progress or work about to get under way. ‘Method' has to do, first of all, with how to ask and answer questions with some assurance that the answers are more or less durable. ‘Theory' has to do, above all, with paying close attention to the words one is using, especially their degree of generality and their logical relations. The primary purpose of both is clarity of conception and economy of procedure, and most importantly just now, the release rather than the restriction of the sociological imagination.