The Sociological Imagination
My seminar will be in three parts. The first will focus on what the leftist sociologist C. Wright Mills’s describes as the sociological imagination. I am circulating the first few pages of his 1959 book of the same name. The remainder of the seminar will provide examples of the use of that methodology. The second part will explain how I came to collaborate with eleven of my students from my Sociology of Theatre class last semester on a jointly written article on Shrek The Musical entitled “‘Let Our Freak Flags Fly’: DreamWorks Theatricals and the Branding of Diversity.” The third part will explicate the thesis of the essay, that DreamWorks is using Shrek the Musical to exploit a generic theme of diversity to extend the reach of the Shrek franchise and challenge Disney in its own backyard. By bringing a sociological analysis to bear on the study of commercial theatre, we aim to show that DreamWorks is using its marketing strategy—diversification—to provide the theme—diversity—for the product it is employing to implement that strategy.
Beginning of C. Wright Mills’s The Sociological Imagination (pdf format–click to read)
“Freak Flag” (excerpt) from Shrek the Musical (click the arrow button to listen).
