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Meaning of sociological imagination
What sociological imagination
Meaning of sociological imagination
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The commonsense knowledge can be seen as something we learn while growing up that should be common among the human race. Something for example that determines right from wrong. You can say, it is common sense not to jump in that man hole because you would get hurt or it is common sense not to pet a lion. These are just things people should already know that should be used in everyday life. Now, unlike commonsense knowledge being used in your everyday life experiences, myths, which would be a falsely made stories or fairy tales, aren 't used in everyday life situations. Myths are stories people pass on down for generations, a story that is supposed to be magical or an opinion someone comes up with and passes it along as a true story. Some might say that if your stomach is shaped a certain way while pregnant then you would have a boy or girl. These people share those experiences with other pregnant women and swear on their life that they will have a boy or girl based on that shape. So as we can see, myths don 't have any scientific proof behind them, they are just fables people want to believe or want to pretend to believe, similar to the …show more content…
If you are wealthy you will see your environment completely different compared to someone who is poor or struggling to survive. People will always have a different outlook on things even though the social context is the same. I feel it all depends on the persons struggles and where they stand at in the food chain of society. C. Wright Mills came up with a term called sociological imagination, I feel the term means, rather than judge a situation right off the bat, you come up with a different thought of why such and such is. For example, you see an individual riding their bike to work, your first judgement is ‘that person is poor and can’t afford a car, ' instead that person could actually be riding for exercise so they can get in
... that they affect one another. A person who lives by a lower income will not have that mines and chances of become wealthy. A person in the other spectrum, which is born into a higher class, will most likely stay wealth. This leads to an endless cycle of generations staying within the working class realm. The likely hood of a person moving up a class is rare but it does exist. People need to be pushed and have a drive to keep going and to keep trying. That is why we are told we have an equal chance in life so we can all strive for better even though in reality we do not all have an equal chance. But nonetheless people should try to become successful even if they never make it in life because a life without purpose, goals, or ambitions is a meaningless life. As humans we need a reason to live, another day for people to take advantage and make the best of it.
Sociologist C. Wright Mills tells us that we must expose ourselves to sociological imagination, which is the ability to link someone’s personal struggles and success to the world around them and to observe what social factors might affect them. Sociological imagination is the ability to get rid of the familiar routines and look at something as
In 1959, C. Wright Mills released a book entitled ‘The sociological’. Imagination’. It was in this book that he laid out a set of guidelines of how to carry out social analysis of the data. But for a layman, what does the term ‘sociological imagination’ mean? actually mean.
Myths and religious doctrine are generally recognized as two entirely different things. Myths are usually referred to as a fictitious story or a half-truth; often they are stories shared between groups of people that are part of a cultural society. Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, and purpose of the universe, and often containing an ethical code dictating appropriate human conduct. Although they differ in certain aspects, they still hold similarities. Comparable to parables within the Bible, myths have different versions which are both motivating, as well as entertaining. There are not only parallels to the idea of the stories but specific tales hold similar morals and equivalent characters.
Myths relate to events, conditions, and deeds of gods or superhuman beings that are outside ordinary human life and yet basics to it” ("Myth," 2012). Mythology is said to have two particular meanings, “the corpus of myths, and the study of the myths, of a particular area: Amerindian mythology, Egyptian mythology, and so on as well as the study of myth itself” ("Mythology," 1993). In contrast, while the term myth can be used in a variety of academic settings, its main purpose is to analyze different cultures and their ways of thinking. Within the academic setting, a myth is known as a fact and over time has been changed through the many different views within a society as an effort to answer the questions of human existence. The word myth in an academic context is used as “ancient narratives that attempt to answer the enduring and fundamental human questions: How did the universe and the world come to be? How did we come to be here? Who are we? What are our proper, necessary, or inescapable roles as we relate to one another and to the world at large? What should our values be? How should we behave? How should we not behave? What are the consequences of behaving and not behaving in such ways” (Leonard, 2004 p.1)? My definition of a myth is a collection of false ideas put together to create
Core knowledge is a psychological theory that proposes the idea that children have innate cognitive abilities that are the product of evolutionary mechanisms, called nativism. The theoretical approach of constructivism also includes that children have domain-specific learning mechanisms that efficiently collect additional information for those specific domains. The core knowledge theory is primarily focused on whether our cognitive abilities, or capacities, are palpable early on in development, or if these capacities come up during a later developmental phase (Siegler 168).
The Social Imagination in my Life Described by Mills, the social imagination is as follows: “What [people] need, and what [people] feel they need, is a quality of mind that will help them to use information and to develop reason in order to achieve lucid summations of what is going on in the world and of what may be happening within themselves” (1959, 14). My opinion of social imagination is how our personal problems and experiences affect larger public issues. Whether a macro or micro issue, all of these issues are important to a formation for a better society. Social imagination can be present in social institutions, cultural factors, and historical factors. These different facts and institutions are important to the future formation of our society as a whole.
In 1959, in his book The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills described a unique type of critical thinking as an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society, both today and in the past. He called such thinking as sociological imagination. It enables an individual to see a bigger understanding on how they live their lives and one’s role in the society. Through this special type of thinking, we can see how our personal lives are connected to society.
Bauman regards common sense knowledge and common sense understandings as powerful social mechanisms which can fundamentally shape attitudes about the world in which humans live. Sociology is the ‘social science’ that studies human behaviour and characteristics based on their development within society. Common sense however is, what a person has learnt from society due to them being socialised. Michael Jacobson illustrates Bauman’s opinion of common sense, ‘Defamiliarization shatters the impenetrable walls of common sense that prevents us from experiencing and understanding the world anew’. Bauman’s argument depicts that humans have grown with society’s changes and are now dependent upon ‘common sense’ due to the lack of interest in exploring the world they live in at greater depths. This is reiterated further as Jacobson continues to exemplify Bauman’s argument, ‘he always points to the yet undiscovered human potential and the – in principle- unlimited possibilities waiting to be uncovered by humanity beyond the constraining confines of common sense’. Bauman persistently disputes that if the human race was to distance themselves from any beliefs they have heard, or have been raised with, that are originated from common sense they would discover a world of greater potential.
The rich tend to think bigger than everyone else; they are more optimistic about things such as opportunities and obstacles. A rich person would not be as discouraged if something did not go their way, whereas a person who is not rich would probably be discouraged and possibly not even try to attempt the obstacle again. Lucas Falconer states in his article that one of the ways the rich differ from the poor is “Rich people concentrate on opportunities and this allows them to eventually reach their goals”. Also, in the article, “How the Rich are Different from the Poor II: Empathy” Michael Kraus says, “The main difference between individuals from relatively upper- and lower-class backgrounds lead to differences in empathy”. This prediction stems from the fact that the environment has an impact on how one was brought up, for instance, the source states that ” lower-class individuals are more dependent on the social environment, while the social economy and resources allow upper-class individuals to navigate the social world” (Kraus). A poll taken in 2012, shows that rich people are actually 43 percent more likely to be hardworking than the average American
Sociology of knowledge is basically implying that knowledge is socially constructed or determined. Knowledge is thus a social product that reflects what is happening in the society and it is generally accepted by a group of people as a reality. It is shaped by social forces, for instance, the government, scholars, and other people with economic, social or political power for their interests. The notion of knowledge, the implication or use is thus affected by these forces that provided support for the development of research. The production of Knowledge is somewhat important as it is not only used to provide information in order to understand certain issues but also to control and manipulate people’s mind – especially their perception of what is real and what is not. For that reason, McCarthy (1999) believes that knowledge is an important key force in the creation of social order as it is often used by certain group to maintain their authority and interests.
Q. The main reason knowledge is produced is to solve problems. To what extent do you agree?
What is culture? Culture is everything, simple but a complex make up of a people that binds us together. The word culture is broad and encompassing. There is no simple, universally accepted definition of the word culture. It is by definition: the behavior and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic or age group. It is characterized a group of peoples’ traditions, religion, food, customs and language. Culture is dynamic. Culture is static. It both changes with the times and withstands the test of time. Culture is what will be left of us as people when we as people are gone.
The function of a myth is to explain natural phenomena. As we are young, we are ambiguous. Every single day, we see the sun, moon, sky, stars, etc and it just leaves us with such curiosity of how things are the way they are. We may not be curious about it everyday, but once in awhile it really makes you think. In a myth, it introduces you with an idea/result of how the world may just came about, not
Assignment: Develop a Critical essay on the question “What knowledge is worth”. In your essay critically explain the rational for your choice as well how that knowledge should be taught and assessed.