Sociological Imagination Essay

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Essay 1. Sociologists often struggle with the relationship between structure and agency. In your own words, define structure and agency. Then, explain how Mills balances structure and agency in his chapter, “The Sociological Imagination.” Be sure to use (and cite) evidence from the chapter to support your argument. In my own opinion, agency stands for the ability and desire to make independent choices or decisions based on your own values and not influenced by structure. To be able to live by your own morals and standards. To accept what you feel is acceptable and to behave and act as you feel fit. Structure in my own words means outside influences that holds no connection to an individual’s actual morals or values. However, structure creates a sense of false reality or justification of importance to an individual or …show more content…

W. (1959). The Promise. In C. W. Mills, The Sociological Imagination (p. 2Ch1). New York: Oxford Universtiy Press. Essay 2. Explain the concept of hegemony in your own words and give an example from your life, experience, or observation. In my own words, Hegemony is the influences on our cultural society from different institutions that use advertising efforts as a way to create false images of acceptable terms and lifestyles in society or portray a more average Joe; a person with the average attitude and lifestyle that seems acceptable and right doing in society’s eyes. For example, when I was a young girl being a younger sister, I always wanted to be just like her. Unfortunately, I did not see her success and postive image as something from her hard work and determination, from her free will and optimistic outlook on life, her choice to make the right decisions. Rather I saw her success as a consequence of her beauty, her materialistic parts of her life, such as the nice clothes she wore, the large quantity of friends she had and the flawless make up she took hours to applying to her face to create ‘flawless looking’

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