In recent times, mass media has played a pivotal role in changing our society’s thoughts and actions. Today, people seek inspiration directly from the mass media sources like violent games, movie stars, band players etc. All of these have an affect especially on adolescent minds which motivates them to create an imitated identity for themselves. Therefore, mass media has become a major socialization agent in their lives. It provides an array of choices spanning from magazines to films. As people make these choices, they invite the major sociological ideology of self-socialization in their lives. “Self-socialization means choosing socialization influences from the wide variety of mass media offerings” (Brym and Lie 2012:67). Many life changing examples of the self-socialization ideologies can be seen in our present society that has led to an interesting turn of events in shaping up peoples identities. One of my personal experiences of self-socializing began when I was in grade 9. This was the year when I thought that I wanted to pursue a career as a professional soccer player. It started out with simple things like skipping my tutorials to watch every soccer match featuring my soccer idol Cristiano Ronaldo. It got to the point of obsession that I started buying his latest jersey and soccer cleats. I even went to a hair salon to get a Ronaldo haircut. On the weekend, I would view Ronaldo’s skill training videos online in order to practice them. Moreover, Ronaldo being a lean athlete in all his sports magazines motivated me to go to the Gym more often. Initially, everyone on the soccer pitch started calling me Ronaldo and soon none of them used my real name to address to me. My school teachers and friends told me that I was good eno... ... middle of paper ... ...teem. This is an application of the interpretation of the sociologist Cooley about how symbolic interactionism shows that one persons opinion of another can mold a person by influencing his/ her actions, thoughts and feelings (Innocente, TheoryII). It gives me a concise understanding to observe how the intricate meshwork or components of the social world tethers and affects my personal life and problems (Innocente, TheoryI). Using sociological imagination made it easier for me to see the big picture because it connects various levels of the social structure to me. Also, our society plays a major role in our actions to situations and is more influential than our individual decisions. To encapsulate, we sew our obstacles by fueling our actions with the deepest thoughts of our mind as a consequence of our interactions with the society by the influence of mass media.
The media, through its many outlets, has a lasting effect on the values and social structure evident in modern day society. Television, in particular, has the ability to influence the social structure of society with its subjective content. As Dwight E. Brooks and Lisa P. Hébert write in their article, “GENDER, RACE, AND MEDIA REPRESENTATION”, the basis of our accepted social identities is heavily controlled by the media we consume. One of the social identities that is heavily influenced is gender: Brooks and Hébert conclude, “While sex differences are rooted in biology, how we come to understand and perform gender is based on culture” (Brooks, Hébert 297). With gender being shaped so profusely by our culture, it is important to be aware of how social identities, such as gender, are being constructed in the media.
What is sociological imagination? This isn’t a newly coined term; C. Wright Mills wrote about sociological imagination in 1959. He described it as “the vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society.” What must one do in order to possess a sociological imagination? To have a sociological imagination you must be able to step outside of any situation and explore it from another perspective, rather than seeing things through your own point of view. It’s important to have a sociological imagination for it gives you the opportunity to think outside of the box. If you take a step back, many problems we all face are issues that are related to strongly rooted flaws in our society. Mills starts
When I was young I was very shy and did not have many friends. I had weaker social learning skills than the other kids in my classroom. As a result, I kept to myself more often. In middle school I wanted to be like all the other girls wearing makeup due to social influence. Also the boys and girls were always separate doing different things that are either masculine or feminine because of gender role socialization. I remembered in gym that it was all the males that were playing a sport, while most of the girls just ran back inside the gym locker to gossip. Although in school I was very timid, I made friends in my neighborhood. I felt like for the first time I could be myself around them and would not be judged for it. If it were not for them I would not have opened myself up to other people in
Mills states that sociological imagination is the ability to perceive situations and circumstances in a different way, beyond our personal experiences and biases, and to understand the broader social and historical context that shapes them.
In symbolic interaction we communicate with other people through roles that we assign to them, the way we label them, or how we act in accordance to what this person symbolizes to us. Often we assign labels, or roles to other people by knowing them from before. It is focused on individual interactions with other people, things or the events. One thing can symbolize one thing to me, but it can mean something else to another individual. Since we view the same thing differently, we will interact towards that thing or individual in different ways. An example of this is, rainy day for my kids means fun in the water, walking through mud, and just enjoying the day. To me the same rainy day means, lots of dirty clothes, mud all over the floor. It is important to remember that someone’s symbolic interaction can change. It is fully focused on micro sociology, only focusing on interactions between individuals. It states that we interact and change according to our prior experiences and interactions. Two sociologists that are identified with this theory are Max Weber and George Mead. Action depends
Sociological imagination is the understanding of relationships between self and society. Anything that happens in a person’s life is an effect of something that has happened in society. Understanding sociological imagination will allow people to see how society can shape a person’s life. People feel that their failures are their own fault when in reality it is caused by what happens in society. If Americans understood sociological imagination they would have a better understanding as to why something happens to them, and how to fix that problem. If they understood why things were happening, from a societal viewpoint, there would look at situations in a different light and then they would hopefully be able
David. "Mass Media and the Loss of Individuality." Web log post. Gatlog. N.p., 11 Sept. 2007. Web. 10 May 2014.
This is the foundation of the Sociological Imagination Concept. According to C. Wright Mills, sociological imagination is developed when we can place personal problems in a social situation or environment such that they are no longer viewed solely as individual or personal problems, but instead as social problems. That is problems that are shared by enough peop...
In my words, Sociological imagination is a way for a person to look at their life as a result of their interaction with society. It can explain why a life is lived with way it is lived and all events, decisions, successes, and failures that have occurred. In my life I have encountered many situations, problems, opportunities and events. I can use my sociological imagination to examine these and figure out why I am the way I am and also why I have chosen to do certain things
On an individual basis, popular culture helps establish and mold the subjective self. It influences the way individuals think, act and respond, and this becomes part of how people develop their personalities, preferences, beliefs, and their overall identity. For example, most people idolize certain fashion statements or fads which determines their preference of clothing. This process of self-formation coincides with both elements of personal choice and the responses and attitudes of others. Furthermore, the identity that an individual asserts is influenced by and helps determine the development of social relationships; it influences the communities and groups to which an individual will identify with and how that identification is processed. In the establishment of communal bonding, mass culture helps with, as Leavis describes, a “leveling down of society” (35). The lines of class distinction have been blurred which, to Leavis is not a good thing, but it unites us nonetheless. Popular culture also promotes unity in that it “blurs age lines” (29). As stated earlier, the products of popular culture are targeted towards a variety of audiences; adults read comic books, children watch adult films, etc. (Macdonald 29). Similarly, teenagers and young adults are brought together through night clubs, fashion, and music; college students come together to enjoy campus events; book fans wait in line hours for new releases, etc. Each of these instances produce feelings of belonging, acceptance and connection with members of society over a common
The sociological imagination is the “quality of mind” (Mills, 1959: 4) that enables individuals to look outside their private sphere of consciousness and identify the structures and institutions in society that influence or cause their personal experiences. In this way, by looking at the bigger picture, they can understand their place in society and explain their circumstance in terms of societal influence.
The sociological imagination is defined by C. Wright Mills as being the vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society. What I understand from this is that the sociological imagination is thinking deeper than everyday life. It
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.
Socialization occurs throughout a person’s life, but the most relevant stages of socialization occurs at an early stage. All of the behaviors that are attained by people is the result of socialization; many of the actions that are taken in the process of life are dependent on how well we are able to fit into society by practicing certain behaviors. Although there are several agents of socialization, such as, family, peers, mass media and school – the school can be identified as one of the most important agents of socialization (Barkan,
The mass media has played a key role in shaping people’s lives. The modern society’s use of mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, as well as print media has largely influenced people’s ideas regarding themselves and the society at large. This is evident from their behavior towards themselves and their community as well as their treatment of the environment. While some experts believe that the media is to blame for most of the negative behavioral traits among the active members of society, the majority agree that the media makes people understand and develop a positive sense of association with their society within which they live, making it easy for them to identify and get their role in it.