The correct answer is "imagination."
Wright Mills once said that sociologists need to develop a sociological imagination to study how society affects individuals.
Wright Mills (1916-1962) coined the phrase "social imagination" and he wrote a book about this topic. The book is titled "The Power Elite."
In this book. Mills wrote about the way relationships are created in power elites such as the United States military, and the political world. where most of the time the end result is the creation of alliances not often seen by society.
For Mills, sociology needs that "imagination" to develop a different perspective of the reality in the societies. Mills always appealed to the awareness of having the experience to understand the sociological phenomenon.
