Sociological Imagination Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Sociology

Contents

Introduction..

Discussion.

Conclusion.

References.

Introduction to Sociological Imagination

Wright Mills had established the concept of “Sociological imagination” that provides the framework to understand the social world. Mills was the modern sociologist who brought throughout understanding into the everyday lives of the society’s people. Mills specified, “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.” Further, the sociological imagination aids in establishing the link between personal challenges and social issues. Mills suggested that troubles or biography is a personal challenge, whereas issue or history is social challenges (Blommaert 2018). Moreover, sociological imagination helps the person to view the interconnection between their personal lives with the society. This essay is aimed at elaborating on the importance of sociological imagination in terms of historical, cultural, structural and critical with the help of examples. Further, it would be followed by a discussion on personal trouble and social issues.

Discussion on Sociological Imagination

Personal troubles can be defined as a private issue that can be experienced inside the person's character. Mills stated that all the person on this globe function as actresses or actors in their own life, who make selections about their groups, family, school, friends, work and added problems within their control. Public issue/ social issues are the one that is beyond the person's control and associated with an individual's inner life. Sociological imagination helps in understanding the communal norms and associated relationship with human behaviour; therefore, it helps in taking beneficial and informed decisions. A human being lives in the society that helps them to shape as per the belief, norms and values. Human unavoidably lives and interact together, therefore, problems that affect at the societal level can affect the person for worse or for the better. Consequently, it is vital to understand the problems that touch society and affect the person too so that people do not limit their potential due to society view. A person understanding and knowledge about society can be proven effective way to enhance critical thinking (Blommaert 2018).

If a person were to blame his/her failure based on social troubles like economic issues or segregation then it would be the deficiency of sociological imagination. In the above-stated case, it is important to look at the matter from the broader viewpoint. An individual cannot be blamable for segregation, it might be because of some social structures that present in society. Likewise, Individual cannot solve the societal ill, as society is superior to a person. Mills was showing that most of the issues that an individual is going through have a social root cause and many people are facing the same issue. The roots are associated with the changes and structure of society. Hence, social scientists and sociologists must exhibit why these issues have sociological reason so that an individual can understand his/her biography link with the history and structure of the society (Fraser, A. and Hagedorn 2018).

A person is not able to find a job and pay his/her mortgage is usually associated with personal weakness and individuals' errors. Therefore, people start searching for the cause of the issue within them. However, a person can get various thoughts, ideas and feeling for the situation. Mills gave the example of a marriage that is linked to the concept of sociological imagination. If the married couple have problematic marriage or have an issue of domestic violence or they want to separate. It would consider as a personal matter. Nevertheless, it has been evaluated that 250 couples out of 1000 are getting divorced in the initial four years of the marriage therefore, it is essential to reconsider the problem and look the structure of the society and/or the family structure of the person. As, chief socialization usually take place in the family where an individual learns values and norms, before interacting with other people and institution and this can be associated with the increasing rate of divorce.

Carrying on the upper-class family, these people can afford the superfluities, their solution towards the society's problems would be having a good house in the calm atmosphere with security. Homelessness is another example that should be considered for evaluation through sociological imagination (Pyyhtinen 2016). Homelessness can be considered as a personal issue and usually blamed on the person. Perhaps homeless persons' choice predisposed their position; they may be lazy, uneducated and unmotivated. The important question is what kind of social failings and social obstacles might push a person towards homelessness? Factors that can influence homelessness are a bad school, high cost of housing, high unemployment and no family support. The above-stated factors are associated with society therefore, the solution requires at the society level. Further, Mill's argues that to solve the society-associated issues, we need to think and look at previous society and make a link so that we can strengthen the sociological imagination (Selwyn 2017).

Exam cheating can be explained through sociological imagination. Most of the people think a student can be involved in cheating if he or she is lazy and just searching for an easy technique to get a good score. Further, we can correlate this situation with the society point of view, the student may be under tremendous pressure to fetch good marks, and however, he or she is not intellectually capable of fetching good marks. Other reason could be, the student is not financially sound and not able to afford extra coaching that can help him/her to gain good marks. Sociological imagination can be used to understand the association between personal trouble and public issues. Mills had demonstrated how personal problems could transform into a public issue. A person can isolate them from society to keep their problem inside themself, although the chief causes of the issues are somewhat associated with the society. Nevertheless, a person should not make excuses for everything and blamed society. A person to be successful, need to recognize the societal issue and its root cause and try to resolve the issues to make the condition better (Treviño 2017).

Conclusion on Sociological Imagination

It can be concluded that the sociological imagination aids in establishing the link amongst personal challenges and social issues. Mills suggested that troubles or biography is a personal challenge, whereas issue or history is social challenges. Personal troubles can be defined as a private issue that can be experienced inside the person's character. Human unavoidably lives and interact together, therefore, problems that affect at the societal level can affect the person for worse or for the better. Unemployment, broken marriages, homelessness and cheating in the exam are not particular situations as these situations are affecting many people not only a single one. Moreover, every situation did evolve from past events. Therefore, social scientists and sociologists must exhibit why these issues have sociological reason so that an individual can understand his/her biography link with the history and structure of society. Public issue/ social issues are the one that is beyond the person's control and associated with an individual's inner life. Sociological imagination helps in understanding the communal norms and associated relationship with human behaviour. a person should not make excuses for everything and blamed society.

References for Sociological Imagination

Blommaert, J., 2018. Durkheim and the internet: On sociolinguistics and the sociological imagination. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Fraser, A. and Hagedorn, J.M., 2018. Gangs and global sociological imagination. Theoretical criminology, 22(1), pp.42-62.

Pyyhtinen, O., 2016. More-than-human sociology: A new sociological imagination. Springer.

Selwyn, N., 2017. Education, technology and the sociological imagination–lessons to be learned from C. Wright Mills. Learning, Media and Technology, 42(2), pp.230-245.

Treviño, A.J., 2017. C. Wright Mills and the Cuban Revolution: An exercise in the art of sociological imagination. UNC Press Books.

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Sociology Assignment Help