Sociological Imagination Research Paper

The Sociological Imagination Possessing sociological imagination is having the ability to take your personal experiences and relate it to the bigger society depending on where you live, how you live, and most importantly “when” you live. In other words, it is the capacity to take your troubles and look at it from a different perspective based on society, history, and geography. Having sociological imagination is useful because it allows us to think outside the box; doing this might let us see the difference between a personal trouble and a public issue. There are major differences between these two, and understanding this can help people comprehend how to deal with these troubles or issues. In his book The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills describes a trouble as a private matter, and an issue as a public matter.

It is crucial for people to be able to distinguish between these two in order for them to understand that their troubles do not reflect their faults and weaknesses. Take unemployment for example, many people who lost their jobs despite their best efforts think that not having a job is the result of their personal shortcomings, or that it is the consequence of them not working hard enough . This point of view can discourage people from persevering to find a job or better themselves because they might think that no matter what they do they aren’t going to be good enough. If they take a step back and look at the bigger picture however, they might realize that their unemployment probably has very little to nothing to do with their skills and efforts. If they take a look at the economy and the society as a whole they will realize that they’re definitely not the only ones struggling with this issue and understanding this can be very encouraging and even life changing for many people. Using my sociological imagination I have tried looking at my personal troubles from a different point of view and I can see that some of them