I recently started an introduction to sociology class, and I have to explain the sociological imagination in my own words. But if I don't understand the concept, it's a bit difficult to do that.
For example, my personal trouble is having a poor communication with my classmates and professors because of unstable internet connection. How can I relate this personal trouble of mine into a public issue(because I think it is, I just cant put it into words) using Sociological Imagination?
Hello everyone,
Can someone please help me. I’m having so much trouble understanding what sociological imagination is. I see the definition but for the life of me I cannot understand it enough to identify example in my life to apply to it. Can someone explain it the best they possibly can and maybe provide an example to help me better (see) it?
(For the concept, see Mills 1959. Decent wiki: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociological_imagination)
For me right now, it is all about Netflix's 'Love is blind'. It is a somewhat silly reality show where participants have dates, without being able to see each other. The goal is to leave that set-up engaged, then the couples are followed to their weddings.
The first thing that stands out to me, is actually a methodological matter. Because many of the people actually do fall in love. After only a couple of days of talking to a person they cannot see. Oftentimes I've felt that in-depth interviewing can give a kind of special feeling of openness and a deep connection. (Sometimes I wonder, should we do 'interviews' in everyday life for no reason at all, other than that it brings something to people?) I think this is a very special thing and now I'm wondering: how could qualitative interviewing be affected by not being able to see each other? Would it make it even more open and vulnerable, or would it be too difficult to gauge each other?
Then, there are all these theoretical connections that are possible with the show. Many participants are preoccupied with stuff like age, race, and sexuality. Obviously, Swidler's wonderful work on romantic love (2001) would be a great framework to look at these people's expectations and narratives. (How are the current institutions functioning?) I am also reminded of Lamont (1992) because of the virtues these mostly middle-class Americans claim to possess or seek, and how they define them. Assessing beauty in others (see Kuipers 2015), or refraining to do so, is supposed to be an important part of the show, although all participants are conventionally attractive.
I don't want to make this too long, but am obviously up for a talk about this show! Also I am very curious to hear what is happening in all of your sociological imaginations - thank you for sharing anything!
I’m working on a forum post and an interesting question was posed by my prof that I’m curious as to how others would answer. The prompt reads:
“Provide an example of the socio-structural outcomes that may be derived from individual problems.”
What are your thoughts on this? There are so many options!
hello all,
i am an undergraduate student graduating in may with a BA in sociology and anthropology. i'm 22 years old.
though i am eternally grateful for my education and involvement with this discipline, i feel disillusioned, alienated, and hopeless. not only do i always feel like a participant observer in my own life, my perspective on history, culture, and society have drawn me to the conclusion that all of my knowledge is for nothing. we read the works of all these great thinkers who had visions of how to change the world (some even had actual plans!) but then we look around at the world we live in and see that not only has nothing changed, but often times that now it's even worse.
i think the internet is a fucking mistake. i think we're all going to die in the irreversible climate catastrophe that is coming in twelve years. i think it doesn't fucking matter who i've read and what i know, because no one with power will ever, ever listen to me, and i will never have the power to make any real change. i think we've been sentenced to death by people who died decades or maybe centuries before we were even born, and now all we can do is wait to meet our fates. capitalism and its ravenous, destructive maw has swallowed us up and spit us out, and now there is nothing left to do but die.
the faculty at my institution aren't exactly helpful. either they don't understand the urgency and depth of my despair, or they do and they're not giving me any useful strategies to help me live with it. the nature of sociology is the more you know, the less you know, but no one ever talks about how the more you know, the more you understand why so many prominent sociologists were morbidly depressed or wrote themselves to death.
what is the point of being cursed with this terrible knowledge? how can any one of us going on, knowing the ugly realities of the world we live in with such specificity and depth? i'm in a cultural sociology course right now and still i cannot for the life of me find a way to make meaning out of this burdensome curse.
all this to say: how do you all sleep at night? what do you know that i don't? should i have reason to hope? or maybe there is no reason to hope, but a good reason to carry on learning and doing this work anyway? am i the only sociology student in the world to feel so engulfed in the miasma of never-ending, isolating dread that nothing any of us do matters?
in my 1st sem of MA, and need to write a proposal for my research. I was thinking on the importance(need) of sociological imagination in the present world context. The idea I want to share is that I feel there is a strong essence of sociological imagination at present more than ever. I believe this perspective on looking at individual’s life and society can really become helpful, if not great philosophy, least it can help in understanding our problems, and in some way can find solution. The need to focus on present through a comprehensive study of past, and intersecting our life in the time line of change, are some of the points that I would like to highlight in my research. Mainly, I think the sociological imagination is needed to be understood in developing countries. It might help in overcoming the phony modernization that us 3rd world countries live in without any true developmental process. So I need help from you guys to put this idea in a title, the topic for my research. Any valuable words would help immensely..
hello !!! i was wondering if anyone knows the concept of sociological imagination and has an example regarding to political stance :(((( it would be a great help!!!!
Hi, I am instructed to write a paper for sociology 101, in which there is a section asking me to apply the sociological imagination to a movie I watched (The Big Sick). However I am having some trouble understanding the concept, and the more I research the more confused I get. I am planning to run my example across with my professor later this week, but I suppose it can’t hurt to ask for more advice.
My textbook defines sociological imagination as seeing the relation between biography and history. I plan to talk about Kumail, the protagonist, and his struggle to find his personal identity and values (biography). As for history, having come from Pakistan, Kumail grew up with Islamic values, immigrated to the US, and has very different and contradictory values compared to that of US. As a result of the clash in culture, he is having an issue with personal identity.
Does that sound too simple? I’m not sure if I am doing this right. Any new perspectives will help.
Hi! I am a freshie in college taking up Sociology 11 and I'm struggling with my exam. I have to make a sociological imagination of a problem using the concepts that I took up during class. I have no idea if I am doing this properly or if it sounds like I am being empathetic. The problem I have to tackle is that the person speaks English instead of her native language. I am planning to talk about talking about norms in his/her small culture or where he/she grew up in, and the effect of earlier colonization. I am not sure what else to write about :(
I was wondering if anyone here could help me out with an issue I am having. In my introductory sociology class we were told bring in an example (a TV show/film scene, song, news article, passage from a book etc) of the sociological imagination and do a five minute presentation on it.
I understand the term but am having some trouble locating a good example. I was going to use the personal trouble of anorexia and body image pressure in general, particularly in women, and talk about the public issue of the media representation of women, the standards of beauty in Western society and the increase in eating disorders and such over recent years. Can anyone recommend an example that would be suitable for me to use?
What role did he exactly assign to history in sociological analysis? Did he let people around him open up their eyes and see what is happening within society? Some questions I would like to know. Thank you!
Would being able to see how something such as an advertisement manipulates our minds be an example of sociological imagination? My professor described it as "being able to see beyond the veil", but I'm still a little lost.
What are the similarities between empathy and sociological imagination? I think in ways that may be defined as "abstract". I try to be realistic mostly, engaging in discussions of philosophy occasionally. I tire of arguments against solipsists and philosophical nihilists, as they think the world isn't real even.
At any rate;
Can anyone propose a thought experiment, even a controversial one? Any one would do. I am requesting this to stimulate my brain more, and in the event I spoke with a smart person like you guys, I'd be enthralled!
Help me expand my perspective on sociological imagination and view the world through a different lens.
If it helps, I'm a hobbyist for the most part (high school student), though I do hope to study the subject more formally in the future.
One can say sociology is the most advanced science because of its critical and reflexive analysis, but also the slowest, for the same reasons. Sociology's lens is so powerful it can study itself (sociology of sociology). I do not think any other field of knowledge promotes or achieves this. However, considering the size of such task, it is no surprise it's slow pace. Fellow Redditors and sociologists, despite the vast amount of scattered information available online, I wonder what is your opinion on the creation of a single online database for all the scientific research, not just an encyclopedia, but foremost a dynamic "arena" for global real-time discussion of sociological theory/practice? I believe this input-output instrument would promote the integration and better understanding of the different sociological schools... and you? Also, where to begin if you agree? And, if not, why? Reddit seems already a good place...
Do you think that some people are more naturally sociologlically minded than others? I know this could get down into a debate of nature vs. nuture, so I want to see where this goes. Personally, when I started college I was an art major, then a french major, then I took a general education sociology class, and I knew it was what I wanted to study. It matched exactly the way I have always thought.
Hey guys. I am taking an intro to Soc class in my senior year and am having a hard time grasping some concepts. I am an engineer (both by nature and degree), so my professor and I are in many ways polar opposites. I feel like this is a barrier and would love to get another explanation of this concept.
C Wright Mills' Sociological Imagination is a concept I know is covered in like all Soc 1 courses. I understand it as one's ability to relate and understand the society in which they live in, and understand how that person shapes society and how society shapes that person.
Now the difficult part. He wants me to write an essay from that standpoint about how I made the decision to come here for school. He saus to not answer it as a 'why' question but as a 'how' question. I really don't think I see the relation between the two? I think the why/how part specifically is throwing me off (he writes very poorly. Very 'sophisticated' words that add no context and take away from understanding). Does anyone have any feedback on how you would answer this, or what part of the concept I'm missing?
TL;DR - I need to explain how I ended up at this school using the framework of 'The Sociological Imagination'. I don't see the relation?
I'm having trouble understanding not only the concept, but also why I should care and why society as a whole should as well.
I need to write an essay about this topic but can't really grasp the idea. Thanks in advance.
