The sociological imagination and media studies in neoliberal times

To date, media and communication studies have mostly examined narratives either as stories that circulate in public discourse or as people’s personal narratives. In the context of deepening inequalities, the cementing of neoliberal rationality and the intensifying centrality of media and communication technologies in public and everyday life, connecting the two realms is a vital task. Drawing on The Sociological Imagination, I argue for and demonstrate the value of connecting what C. Wright Mills famously called “personal troubles” and “public issues of social structure” in the study of current media and narrative. Analysis of how contemporary cultural narratives furnish and condition our most intimate personal troubles highlights that our lives are shaped by social forces not of our own making. Yet, the intersection between media and cultural discourses and individuals’ sense-making of their experiences can open up possibilities for change and even resistance.