Social Imagination Essay

Sociological Imagination And Social Identity
Presumptions, based on names, alter individuals' social identities and can be explained through their
relations with the main branches of sociological imagination: biography and history. Through the
analysis of sociological imagination and its two primary components, the impact of influential forces
is distinguishable in the investigation of how and why individuals perceive one another through the
assumption of each other's names. Indeed, historical and social forces affect wavering attitudes
about gender and names. Due to those forces and societal expectations, names spur assumptions
about a stranger's social identity even before confrontation with that person. Through inquiry of
history and biography's significance on individuals, sociological...show more content...
In furtherance, the sociology of gender analyzes how those forces manipulate the perception of the
differences between masculinity and femininity, whereas the sociology of names examines how
those same forces influence presumptions on people based on their appellations. Essentially, cultural
expectations are attached to which gender a person has. In its intertwined relationship with names,
gender explicates how culture presently links the suffixes "–a" to be with female names and "–o" to
be with male names. In regards to sociological imagination's concept of history, origins of names
may date back to previous generations, which permits present suppositions of race, ethics, and
beliefs. Concerning social forces and the concept of biography, both expectations based on gender
and assumptions based on names are shaped by social interactions with family members, friends, and
strangers. Ultimately, the historical force of cultural expectations and the social force of
presumptions account for the social identities of gender and names–attributes that mold people's
perceptions of each other within their
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What Is Social Imagination?
Social Imagination, is a term C. Wright Mills coined in 1959, and it talks about our way of
making a connection between history and biography and how it interacts with society. He said
we can't imagine our own lives without looking at history, and comparing our own personal
experiences. Social imagination can be used to show how someone's actions can be viewed by
someone looking in. When people perform their daily customs or rituals, it seems like a normal
thing to do. But someone from another part of the world may look at these rituals and scratch their
heads. A big example of this is how some people can get so enveloped inreligion and believe that
everything has a predetermined outcome, and is for a greater cause. Religion can give them...show
more content...
With there also being so many different religions around the globe, it raises the question of how
does one know if they are worshiping what could be considered the right deity. One way students
can help acquire the social imagination is to try looking from the outside in, look at some tasks
they perform subconsciously or never question. Try thinking how someone from across the
country, or globe may look at that task and may be quizzical of it. People primarily may not
understand American Football, and especially the fandom behind it, how people can devote time
to things like Fantasy Football, as it is primarily an American tradition. Another way to especially
see the outside view is by traveling to a new area and see what they do that you may think is out
of the ordinary. In England tea is a big tradition, so much so people have time set aside each time
just to drink tea. In the U.S tea isn't as common of a drink as we are primarily a coffee drinking
culture, which may be in part to media influences, or just it becoming socially acceptable to go
out and have coffee before going to work, or a social get together over getting coffee. Social
Imagination is about making what is familiar to us strange, and question what we find as normal, to
look at the bigger view on a topic at a society scale and not a personal

Difficulty in social imagination
Social imagination allows us to understand and predict other people's behaviour. It also helps us to
make sense of abstract ideas, and to imagine situations outside our immediate daily routine. This
impairment of imagination is also known as `inflexibility of thought` and can affect people with
autism in different ways. This can make it difficult to:
Plan ahead and organise themselves
Prepare for change and plan for their future.
Imagine the world from someone else's perspective and understand that other people may have
different point of view and different feelings from their own.
Understand the concept of danger and identify hazards, such as crossing a busy road without looking
if there are any driving

Social Imagination
Social Imagination and Same Sex marriage and society.
To me social imagination is the ability to remove yourself from a given situation whether it
affects your life or not personally and try to imagine the situation or conflict from a different
perspective or more global view. It's the personal aspect that affects our judgments, opinions and
actions in a particular situation. Removal of the personal viewpoint gives us a much fairer and
unbiased way to make a decision that is fair. Removing our past prejudices and mores we have
grown up with can give us a total different way of looking at the world.
One of the greatest issues today affecting many countries but seemingly most evident right now in
the United States is same sex marriage....show more content...
There was actually a landmark constitutional case, "Loving vs. Virgina" An interracial couple sued
the state of Virginia as it was illegal at the time for interracial marriage and a couple was jailed for
one year in Virginia for their marriage which was a violation of the Racial Integrity act of 1924. The
Supreme court ruled this unconstitutional and ended all restriction on marriage according to race.
That decision is now widely being used as the guide for the court on the Same Sex Marriage issues
of DOMA and proposition 8. It was decided earlier the the freedom to marry is one of the basic civil
rights of free men.
The social opinions have changed so rapidly in regard to Same Sex Marriage. The country is now at
55% pro to 40% against voting that same sexed couple should be allowed to marry as compared to
1996 when the percentages were only 27% pro. This is extremely rapid social change for a country
in 7 years.
The way social imagination helps us to resolve issues like this is to remove our personal beliefs
totally and be "outside" the issue. Not look at how this could affect us personally. Look at the
individuals involved and remove our prejudices and try to imagine the situation in another form than
we are familiar with. We will come to a decision totally different than one made with past opinions
and bias and reach one with fairness to

Mills define the term sociological imagination, as an individual being able to change their viewpoint
and mindset from the things that one is familiar with in their daily lives and look at those things
differently such as to think outside the box. Some factors that were brought up in the article that I
can contribute to the formation of my family are "the trap". The trap will prevent a person from
looking past their troubles and keep them thinking that they will always be alone. We live in a fast
pace every changing society and because many individuals don't know how to handle our rapid
changing society they tend to become trapped. Developing a social imagination lets people look past
their boundaries to see through the traps. In my family

Social Imagination
Social Imagination is when people connect person experiences to those in the society. In other
words, it just means that we use our experiences to connect with other persons. What this process
does is to make us question our own habits and/or customs and by doing so, it becomes more
natural to us. We can connect with so many people all over the world if we use social imagination
because it is a process that brings social diversification to the world. It's a simple process, we just
have to be able to just do it. Many people are afraid to connect with their personal experiences
maybe because they are private people and they go about practicing their own rituals and traditions.
That is fine but by using social imagination you can connect and learn with so many other people
that are in the same position as you–all trying to be more aware and more open minded to one
another....show more content...
Yes to many this may seem odd that it would be considered social imagination but it is. To many
tea drinking can be done because it is suggested as healthier than drinking coffee. It may also be
drank because of traditions or rituals, esp. if you were in England drinking tea is a tradition that
spans hundreds of years. Here in America and maybe some other countries, drinking tea is not
widely practiced because it is not a tradition or ritual that we do or some other countries do. So
drinking tea is a use of social imagination because we can use it to connect with all of those people
all around the world that drink tea. By doing so, sociologists can connect with people by just
practicing certain acts such as drinking tea, or even getting married. There are many different
activities that constitute as social

Sociological Imagination And The Media
One might wonder why they behave towards certain people or situations the way they do, or
desire certain items over others. The mass majority of society isn't aware of how much the media
plays a crucial role in these decisions. Sociologist uses the sociological imagination to explain
some of these desires. The sociological imagination is a theory that explains the awareness of the
relationships between an individual and the wider society, meaning how one situation is connected
to history and the society where they live. This view helps sociologist to get a better vast view on
society behaviors. Sociologist also uses other theories such as the functionalist, conflict, symbolic
and feminist theory to explain how the media has shaped society thoughts and actions. These five
theories interpret what they believe the media has done to society. The sociological imagination
stays that in today's society people tend to believe that the medias purpose is to entertain and
provide then with the news. That society forget or aren't aware of the influence the media has on
society. The sociological imagination view the media as a tool that has shaped society action, norms,
and beliefs and so on. For example, one might want to pursue a healthier lifestyle voluntarily, but
might miss how that goal is strongly influenced by society through the media. In the last couple
years there been a big movement to live a healthier lifestyle. Although one might truly desire a
healthier lifestyle if it

Social Imagination And Eating Disorders
Social Imagination is being aware of the relationship between the society as a whole and a
persons personal experience. It could be explained as thinking outside of one's daily life or
outside of the norm. A eating disorder is a major social issue.One would believe that an eating
disorder would be considered a personal problem, but multiple people develop a disorder, it is not
simply considered a personal issue. One of the main questions is, is why do women develop it
more than men do? It is because there is a standard for women to meet. They believe that they
need to have a certain body type. If there was not a standard for women, there would most likely be
less women with the disorder. Even if there was a solution to the disorder, there would

Examples Of Social Imagination
Although this is my first sociology course, I felt that the first chapter gave me a decent insight as
to what sociology and social imagination are. According to the textbook, social imagination is
"the ability to seed the connections between our personal experience and the larger forces of
history." I interpreted this definition simply as how we perceive what is going on around us.
Social imagination could be taking a step back and reminiscing on past experiences, or even
considering where we see ourselves in ten years. Each person that we pass by on a daily basis may
be going through situations that we have no idea by just looking at them. I believe that social
imagination can be used in the sense that you are "putting yourself in someone else's shoes." Do you
ever take the chance to put yourself outside...show more content...
I wouldn't say that using social imagination in this situation would be giving the man money, but
merely taking the time to think about who he use to be versus who he is know. Sometimes we just
have to get to know people to develop a true perspective on who they really are. In my opinion,
being judgmental is the exact opposite of having social imagination. Students of sociology can just
become more aware of their surroundings to acquire the sociological imagination. I found an
example in the book to be particularly interesting, concerning things that may be natural to some
people that truly aren't in society. This is an experience that occurs every day in our lives and can
include small things, such as what one person wears versus another. Just because one does, doesn't
mean the other has to either. We can learn to be accepting and thoughtful towards other people in
order to broaden our social imagination, instead of being close–minded and shutting people out
because of the car they drive or the clothes they

Rita Sobhy
Week 1 Post (Social Imagination )
Social imagination can be described as one's perspective of different concepts in the world. In the
text You may ask yourself by Conley, sociology is defined as the "ability to see the connections
between our personal experience and the larger forces of history" and proceeds to provide several
examples such as religion. An example I have seen would be Christianity, some churches decided to
create different branches under Christianity. This happened because they have experienced factors
that didn't make sense for them to continue in the church they were in. And other people would
continue to say that these old churches were created long ago and doesn't make sense to continue to
go to them because this generation isn't like the past generations. Everyone's personal...show more
content...
Another perspective would be going for a major that's more challenging than their abilities
because they want to learn more. Students can meet new people through classes. They can also
meet new people through work. They can see and talk about the different perspectives of peers
and see what led them to what they believe in today. This is one way for a student of sociology to
acquire the sociological imagination. Another way for a student of sociology to acquire social
imagination would to be to observe someone. For example, observing someone's manners and
behaviors. According to the textbook by Conley a woman who wrote a section called how to
observe morals and manners under the topic of marriage and by doing that she came to an
assumption about that the institution of marriage was based on the assumption of the inferiority of
women. One small example can just include drinking a cup of coffee. There are different
perceptions of drinking a cup of coffee. How someone was raised and them watching other people
drinking a cup of coffee can lead them to their way of drinking their coffee. And finally the can also
show

Social Imagination And Sociological Imagination
The occupational future I plan is to provide a service that helps teen parents and their children get
an education. My goal is to change the statistics that are against teen parents and to stop the social
stigma placed on them. Why would I choose to help teen parents? How could I have such a specific
goal and occupational interest at the age of 18? The answer lies within my sociological imagination.
A sociological imagination is the understanding of a broader historical background within an
individual that affects the social outcome of an individual (1959 Mills). It is important to understand
the sociological imagination because one can find the cause of an effect within the sociological
imagination.
I was born in Chicago, Illinois to a 14–year–old illegal immigrant from Guerrero, Mexico and a
19–year–old legal resident from MichoacГЎn, Mexico. That sentence alone screams "sin" on many
levels. Of course, I did not see that as an issue growing up. I was a princess. My dad was an only
child, so my grandma gave me everything. My mom is young and beautiful, and I knew a
language no one else understood. I was the first born so I could boss my siblings around. I was
special. I never understood the pity people gave my mom when they told her she was so young. I
always thought that meant she was beautiful and everyone should be jealous. Then one day I
learned how to add and subtract. I wasn't the first person who told my mom "you were just a kid
with a kid."
That day I realized I wasn't as special as I thought I was. I was an accident, a big mistake. I soon
realized my mom never graduated from High School and that she could be sent back to Mexico at
any moment. My dad, on the other hand, graduated from high school and after I was born he got
his associates degree in some type of engineering. My dad's degree was my families advantage.
Even with his degree, my mom is still my idol. She is the toughest person I know. She worked
two 8 hour shifts when my dad went to school, she never cared what might happen to her as long
as my siblings and I were happy. She walks with honor and pride even when people tried to bring
her down, and trust me they tried. They used me as the trigger. I am the reason she never made it to

Sociological Imagination And Social Issues
The sociological imagination is a way of looking at the world that helps one to see that the world is
a mix of personal and societal factors that interplay together to create the world, as we know it. In
day–to–day life, we often have the instinct to detach our problems, issues and successes from
larger societal trends, seeing ourselves as strictly independent actors in society. The sociological
imagination rejects this worldview by helping us to see that our personal problems often connect
to larger societal trends and forces that play into our personal choices. The difference between a
personal issue and a public issue is about the extent of shared common experiences. A personal
problem affects you, it may be positive or negative and may even be common to a point, but there
are usually no larger societal forces at play. A public issue is one that affects a larger group of people
the same way and as a result creates a clear trend. A good example of a personal problem is your
car breaking down. It affects you and is common enough, but the difference between this and a
wider public issue is the frequency of individuals experiencing the same breakdowns at similar
times, which would create a trend that could be possibly be tied to larger societal factors. The social
problem of drug addiction applies as both a public and personal issue for a variety of reasons. A
person begins taking drugs for a variety of reasons, many of them personal. Their use is based on
personal choice

Sociological imagination is the ability to look beyond one's social environment and observe
those of others. It is being able to make connections between these different milieu and notice any
patterns; to see if something is just a person trouble or a social issue. "The sociological
imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within
society" (Mills). We are given the ability with this imagination to see how one's personal scene
plays into that of the larger historical one. Often times, it may seem that in the grand scheme of
world history, our personal lives offer little contribution, yet, sociological imagination shows us
how we in fact are crucial factors in determining our historical time period. The Elliot passage
further drives home the point that it is impossible to "set apart" the self "from the social, cultural,
political and historical contexts in which it is embedded" (Elliot: 6). We like to think that we
cultivate ourselves yet we disregard the fact that our identities are influenced by the external factors
in our milieu; our biographies are connected with history. Donna Gaines except from Teenage
Wasteland illustrates the ideas of Mills' sociological imagination by showing the connection between
personal and public issues. Gaines discusses the epidemic of teenage suicide by examining the
individual motives and branching it to the larger picture. She notes the difficult the individual teen
faces on a daily basis,

According to The Sociological Imagination (Mills, C.), sociological imagination means the
particular way of looking the important relationship between "personal trouble of milieu" at the
world. The sociological imagination aims to help individuals understanding the social structures by
providing a special quality of mind in which ordinary person's visions and power are bounded by a
set of socially constructed norms and ideas. By the reflection of what they experienced in the
society, they may have a transvaluation of values according to their own sensibility. Mills (1959)
asserts that "What we experience in various and specific milleux, I have noted, is often caused by
structural changes. Accordingly, to understand the changes of many personal...show more content...
With reference to the finding from Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, the unequal
distribution of sex in workplace has intensified. Take the occupation of clerical support workers as
an example, there was 72.9% of female and 27.1% of male in this occupation. Another example is
the occupation of craft and related workers, there was 95.5% of male and only 4.5% of female
workers in this occupation. Under the gender socialization, men and women have their own gender
role. For example, the society thought that men have greater ability to do physical works than
women or women have more patience to communicate with others. Also, gender stereotype also
caused the effect of gender horizontal segregation in the society in which male and female have
occupied certain occupation. As a result, the gap of unequal distribution of sex in workplace has

Introduction The sociological imagination is the point at which an individual perspectives his
general public as the potential reason for his day–by–day triumphs and disappointments. People
regularly tend to see their own issues as social issues and attempt to interface their individual
encounters with the workings of society. The sociological creative ability tries to think of
foundations for certain social patterns and gives a structure to fathoming the social world. Having a
sociological creative ability is fundamental since it is critical for people to have an approach to relate
their own issues to the issues of society. Without the way to make these relations, one is unequipped
for perceiving how societal. Individual inconveniences are private issues experienced inside of the
singular 's character and the scope of their quick connection to others. Public Issues need to do with
matters that rise above these nearby situations of the individual and the scope of his internal life.
They need to do with the association an authentic culture in general, with the routes in which
different cover and interpenetrate to shape the bigger structure of social and chronicled life. This
fantastic explanation of the fundamental elements of the sociological creative ability holds its
imperativeness and pertinence today and stays a standout amongst the most persuasive
proclamations of what humanism is about. In perusing, spotlight on Mills ' refinement in the middle
of history and account

Examples Of Social Imagination
What is the social Imagination?
Social imagination is a correlation between one's personal experiences and the bigger picture which
in this case would be society. It places an awareness of where the individual human fits within with
the rest of society. This allows humans to bridge a relationship between history and biology and how
they relate to each other within society. It provides you with the ability to view things from another's
prospective.
Give an example of how it can be used.
Social imagination is used when one doesn't understand why a person would do something such as
why someone would bring their lunch to college verse buying food from the student center. Instead
of judging that student who brings their lunch, they could go

Social Imagination Analysis
The Social Imagination is a term coined by C. Wright Mills in his 1959 book "The Sociological
Imagination". Mills describes social imagination as "the vivid awareness of the relationship
between experience and the wider society". In a more basic form Mills is saying social
imagination is the ability to look at a situation using a different perspective from what you are
used to. Social Imagination can be used to analyze one's life and the customs and culture of the
world around them. One example of this is tea drinking. Some people may drink tea as a substitute
for coffee, for health benefits or maybe even as a form of socializing. For example, in Japan, tea is
part of a cultural ceremony and there are certain rituals that must be followed.

Reflection On Sociological Imagination
Introduction In this paper, I will be applying the concept of the sociological imagination to reflect
on my life so far as a racialized female in society. I will discuss the impacts of social class, gender,
race/ethnicity, and socialization in the settings of the Canadian, Indian, and Indonesian society as
necessary. Being a third–culture individual has influenced certain areas of my life greatly, and
accordingly, I'd like to analyze my own experiences through a sociological lens. The main purpose of
this paper is to share how social contexts, especially socialization, has impacted me. Sociological
Imagination is a significant concept identified by C. Wright Mills, who defined it as the, "...capacity
to range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the
human self–and to see the most intimate features of the human self–and to see the relationship
between the two" (Steckley 2017, 9). It enables us to view social issues such as racism and
poverty through a broader lens, by considering the individual's circumstances before naming the
causes. Moreover, it propels us to distinguish between "personal troubles" and "public issues". For
example, eating disorders are becoming more common among teenage girls, who desire to possess
the ideal body type. Often, the traits comprise of being fair–skinned and slim and if not achieved,
can lead to low self–esteem, depression, anorexia and as a result, severe health problems. We can
say that the eating disorder is the result of a personal issue, as it's the individual's choice to alter her
appearance. However, if we utilize the sociological imagination, we can see that eating disorders can
be regarded as a public issue simply because of how the media portrays the ideal body type for
women. You could also say, that teenage girls hold female celebrities like Megan Fox, Taylor Swift
as idols of some sort, as they possess the ideal body type. Moreover, those who aren't able to achieve
the body type are critiqued mercilessly, like how Kelly Clarkson was mocked for her weight
(Andersen, 2015). As a result, it is considered to be both a personal and a public issue, because
society is able to influence an individual's choice regarding

Sociological Imagination And Mental Illness
Mental illness and the stigma associated with it illustrate the concept of the sociological imagination.
Living with a mental illness is a private trouble, affecting the individual personally, physically,
psychologically, socially, and even economically. The trouble is made even more private in the
respect that those with anxiety/depression/etcetera often suffer in silence since their affliction is not
necessarily visible to others. The stigma associated with mental illness exacerbates the individual,
while simultaneously lending itself to the public issues regarding mental illness.
The lack of treatment for mental illnesses – due partly from the stigma with which it is associated
with – comes with a number of public issues: economically,

Theories Of Social Imagination
Mandy Crim Social imagination is the ability to connect the most basic, intimate aspects of an
individual's life to seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces. (Conley, 2015) Diet plans
are an example of how this theory can be used. When someone starts a diet plan, ex. Atkins, low
calorie, vegan, etc.., why are they starting it? Is it because they want to be more nutritious? Or are
they following the latest trend in society? Are they doing it to be healthy? Or to be a certain size
to fit in? If we ask ourselves these questions then we are thinking with a social imagination. For
students to acquire sociological imagination they would try to look at their normal ways or ideas
and find the reasons why they do them. Also, to look at the feelings behind the situation. So ask
yourself, am I doing things for me or because social media, society, tv, magazines etc. are directing
me? I think the easiest ways to understand this concept and start to think in these terms is to hear
more examples. So, you finally decide on your destination for your upcoming vacation. Now think
about why you picked that place? Are there sentimental reasons? Financial factors? Has it been
advertised on tv recently? Did people...show more content...
This can be hard to do though because sometimes it's hard to admit the real reasoning behind our
decision. Sometimes it's easier just to go with our choices and not look to much into them. It can
be stressful to look at so many angles of why we are doing things. This way of thinking can also
be very good for us. Are we putting our thoughts and feelings first in our decisions? Are our
choices that we make benefitting us in a positive way? We should be doing things for ourselves
that make us happy and not so that we fit in with society. We should evaluate our intentions behind
our decisions and decide if this is our best choice. Sort of own up to the reasons why we make the
choices we make

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