Imaginative sociology: Serendipitous associations and sideways glances

Combining the personal and academic ‘voice’, this article reflects on the value of serendipitous associations and unplanned images in doing sociological work. One of the central research artefacts discussed is an image generated during an evening of sociability of an urban stairway made from a regionally specific rock known as Sydney sandstone. The accidental nature of the image is used to reflect on a series of issues: to what extent is research planned and unplanned? Why do images serve to illuminate social life? The article proposes that alongside Mills' famed sociological imagination, we need an imaginative sociology , and considers whether Mills may have meant as much when he referred to sociology as a craft. The latter might embrace playfulness and reverie, and employ ‘visual hapticity’ and ‘peripheral perception’ to broaden the sociological ‘gaze’. I conclude by observing that developing a feel for one's craft, like life itself, is an ongoing process.