"The sociological imagination enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals. By such means the personal uneasiness of individuals is focused upon explicit troubles and the indifference of publics is transformed into involvement with public issues." —C. Wright Mills, 1959

Data Collections

Data and Program Library Service (DPLS):
http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/index.html

DPLS is the central repository of data collections used by the social science research community at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
features the Internet Crossroad, a searchable, annotated list of data-related links to Web sites useful to social science researchers
offers a search engine for documents contained in the DPLS Website

Electronic Data Center:
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/cgi-bin/home.pl

provided by Emory University General Libraries
well-organized by subject
search engine for study abstracts

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR):
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/

contains social science data and resources for researchers
comprehensive, well-organized site
browse by subject or use search engine
contains links to other data sites