Of equal importance, however, is the aim of encouraging students to make use of the sociological perspective. This is more than just a sum of the basic definitions, theories and methods of the discipline, it involves a particular way of looking at society, a viewpoint which is questioning and critical. Sociology is valuable in both public and private spheres. Sociological research supplies a body of data on which informed social policy can be based. It has been used, for example, to guide policy on drug abuse and poverty.
Sociology is valuable too in the personal lives of individuals.
Mills believed that we need to see our lives, our personal situations and our problems in the wider context of social structure. The value of sociological consciousness is an understanding of the ways in which our behaviour, beliefs and values are affected by social forces. Mills replies that it helps us to make sense of our lives and gives us an awareness of the social forces, largely unrecognized, which so fundamentally affect us. Understanding makes us feel less helpless, it makes us less passive and, in particular, it gives us some hope of change. We come to recognize that we have choices, even though these are limited by society.