What is the sociology? “Sociology us simply defined as the scientific study of human life, social groups, whole societies and the human world as such.” (Giddens, 2013, p. 4). “Sociology is the scientific study of human social life”, “Sociology specializes in the study of human societies”, “Sociology is the study of group behaviour and social interaction, rather than the study of the individual as such”. “Sociology is the systematic study of human relations.” (Goode, 1977, p. 4). In other words sociology is studying the behaviour of societies as a whole and understanding the society as a whole, it’s seeing the world from a different view. If that is sociology, then what is the sociological imagination? In my essay I will be discussing the sociological …show more content…
It has become the accumulation of facts for the purpose of facilitating administrative decisions.” In other words the research of society and the sociological behaviour of our society is done due to the worries or the negatives and the lack of resources in a professional view in order to fix things instead of researching due to how the mind works and why our minds work in the way they do and due to what reasons does society behave in the way it does. “A sociologist has to be able to break free from the immediacy of their personal circumstances to set things into a wider context.” (Giddens, 2013, p. 5). Sociology really needs to have intellectual thinkers who weren’t interested in just reporting back what they felt reality was but being able to situate themselves in the social reality of others and then be able to report back in the clearest and most understanding way, what that reality is. As Draper says, “External influences such as social structures, which are often unseen, significantly influence and shape an individual’s thinking, motivation and social standpoint.” (Draper, 2006, p. …show more content…
11). Mills is talking about personal troubles and the social issues and is wanting to make a distinction between the two. In simple terms one of the most important concepts or key factors in being able to fully understand how a society is formed or structured is to first fully understand the background and upbringing or history of that society in order to know as an individual your purpose and prospective in life. Furthermore you will understand the fundamental shifts that have played a role and still will play a role in the world as it’s seen
Sociology cannot be clearly explained as there are many different theories and theorists; so far none of them have been defined as a correct answer. Although with all this information of theories and theorists sociology is relatively explained as agreed philosophies that delivers a reason for human society. Sociological theories are like most other theories, they are selective, and there is no quantity of theory to explain everything or define the infinite amount of information that exist or comprehend the methods of observing reality. Sociological theories vary and can be linked to each other according to various criteria. The two main perspectives of sociology are the micro sociological approach and the macro sociological approach. The micro sociological approach is based more on the persons being capable of their own independent thoughts feelings and behaviour; therefor society is built through their interactions amongst each other and the significances they attach to them. This approach is defined using Social Action Theory and Symbolic Interactionism. The Macro Sociological approach is on a much bigger scale and consists of a person being born into a current society which will then shape their behaviour. It centres on the organisations, values and the culture of that particular society and how it impacts an individual and their role in life. This approach is made clearer using Functionalism, Feminist and Conflict Theories.
At a certain point in life, every single person will have to make an important decision in order to achieve his or her goals. This decision will either yield the benefits for him or her immediately, or it will be advantageous in the future. Sometimes, a decision also determines whether a college student will be successful or unsuccessful depending on many different factors. However, most people tend to use the personal psychology to explain what, why, and how they can accomplish the achievement. They rarely apply the sociological imagination before and even after they make a decision. By applying the sociological imagination, “a unique perspective that gives sociologists a distinctive way of looking at data and reflecting on the world around
...er like a social problem which creates a cycle, that’s why it’s relevant because it’s an ongoing cycle that hasn’t ended. Some examples of big picture problems can be divorce, amount of debt piled up, and tuition. Some Mills’ strong points where when he states that what sociology need to do is to have intellectual thinkers, who don’t just report what reality was, instead putting them self in the position of another person’s reality. He further states how scientist should go forth about their work when it comes to concentrating on the social nature of humankind. There are very few but I think a weakness in his idea could be seeing this repeating patterns and have the emotions of not being able to do anything about it therefore, needing a guide. A guide where we can connect the individual with the much larger picture that you can then obtain a sociological imagination
For example, if a man were to lose his job at an education institution, he would blame himself because society makes him out to be lazy. If you look at why the man lost his job at a societal point, you may be able to see that the company was not making enough money and needed to make budget cuts. The company may not have had enough money because of the amount of money the government gave them decreased. The government makes budget cuts based on the past, they look at history and see where they lost their money in the past to avoid losing their money in the future. Mills (1959:05) states that “the idea that the individual can understand his own experience and gauge his own fate only by locating himself within his period, that he can know his own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in his circumstances.” Mills quote is saying that an individual’s outcome can be affected by their awareness on their of the society they were raised in. If they focus on how society is affecting their everyday life, they would be able to have a successful outcome. The would have a better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages within a society, which may vary based off of your sex, race, and social
The term Sociological Imagination was coined by C. Wright Mills and refers to seeing sociological situations from a broad point of view, going beyond one’s thoughts and feelings, and by seeing it how others would see it. In the textbook Introduction to Sociology by Giddens, et. al Mills argued that we needed to “overcome our limited perspective…[and have] a certain quality of mind that makes it possible to understand the larger meaning of our experiences” (4). Therefore one should look at the overall social problems and not at a specific individual’s situation. With this concept in mind I am going to analyze the Guardian online 2012 article “Why our food is making us fat,” by Jacques Peretti. The article mainly speaks about the rapid rise in obesity and the main contributor to it, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). The article also points out some of the economic and political influences behind HFCS.
Wright Mills, an American sociologist coins the term sociological imagination as “the awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society (Mills, 1959). This term is not necessarily a theory, rather an outlook of society and the ability to consider life beyond the typical day-to-day attributes. This results in a greater understanding of individual development in a larger social context contributing to a greater quality of mind distinguishing individuality and the correlation between societies at large (Sociological Imagination, Video file). Sociological imagination to me personally means the ability for one to imagine oneself on a bigger
Sociology is the study of the relationships that humans have with each other and social institutions. It aims to understand the links that exist between individuals and the social structures around them and also the functions that these social institutions perform in society.
Social science is the scientific study of human society and social relationships. Social science definitely helps us make the connection with our personal situations in everyday life. The two topics that interested me were sociological Imagination and politics. In this essay I will explain what I have learnt from these two topics and how they apply to my personal life as a member of society.
Both of these concepts illustrate how a person can live his life (biography) But "...contributes, however minutely, to the shaping of his society and its history…" (Mills)
Sociologists develop theories to explain and analyze society at different levels and from different perspectives. Sociologists study everything from the micro level of analysis of small social patterns to the “big picture” which is the macro level of analysis of large social patterns.
I think everyone should ask themselves what is sociology? I believe that sociology is the scientific study of social behavior or society, including its origins, development, organization, networks, and institutions. This is a huge topic to cover. Sociology explains the way people act and think, based on
Before I started taking the course of sociology I wasn’t really expecting to learn anything, it was just supposed to be an easy online class. However, that was not the case. It challenged my mind. I started to see sociology all around me, starting with family, then friends, and how I see things overall in general. The fact that we have an everyday life in which there are patterns in ways of living is what sets a platform for a sociological breakdown and for being a part in what we do. A better way of understanding ourselves. We use sociology in many ways every day. One central and important study of sociology is the study of everyday social life. Everyday life and sociology are definitely two different words and situations, but they tend to hold a close relationship. While sociology is the study of the human interaction, everyday life consists of everyday human interaction. Everyday life is filled by human beings interacting with one another, ideas, and emotions. Sociology studies the interactions with all of these and shows how mere interaction resulted in things such as ideas. For an example, race and ethnicity are important concepts in the field of sociology and are ones that are studied a great deal. Race plays a large role in everyday human interactions and sociologists want to study how, why, and what the outcomes are of these interactions. Current sociological theories focus mainly on how there are many different factors in our everyday items of life, like movies. We were assigned a final to write a review for a movie in sociological form. The movie that was on the list that also happened to be one of my favorite movies, Toy Story. When we were assigned the assignment, I never thought about how in-depth it was with sociol...
Mills(1959), also wrote about public issues of social structure, referring to matters that go beyond the individual and look at society as a whole. How society is organised and how society works. This goes far beyond ‘the troubles of milieu, as it doesn’t look at the person and there individual experiences in society but looks at the wider social structure e.g social institutions… education, religion, family, law and how they have developed and interact with each other examples of the differenc...
What is Sociology one might ask, Sociology is the study of human behaviour, collective action, interaction, and the consequences of these behaviours, actions and interactions. We study sociology. “ Things are not what they seem”, Peter Berger. Was a famous statement and the of sociology ams to prove it. Sociologists aim to “look behind curtains” to understand the complexity of society. Sociologist want to find out why people react and behave in certain ways. Its important for us to study sociology because its essential for peaceful and prosperous living. The study of society helps us analyze the quality of our everyday lives such as: Inequalities in the wealth of nations and classes, problems in gender relations, ethnic, racial and religious
Sociology is a study of society social life, social change, and social causes and consequences of human behaviour and allows us to gain an understanding of the structure and dynamics of today’s society, looking at the interlinking links patterns of human behaviour. Sociology looks at the in which social structure and institutions affect our everyday life. Sociological imagination was founded by C. Wright mills in the 1950`s it is an overall understanding of that some of the things that happen in society may lead to a particular outcome. Mills said it is “the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and wider society.” sociological imagination can also be defined as the ability to look at how sociological situations can unfold due to how everyone is different. The way we behave is shaped by the situation that we find ourselves in, the values and norms that we have and the way that other members of society act around us. It is also a way of thinking about how things in society have led to a particular outcome, and understanding of what led to that specific outcome. Sociological imagination is an ability to look at things socially and how they interact and influence each other gaining an understanding of different cultures and class systems.