Social Imagination And Sociological Imagination

Sociological Imagination & Aboriginal Poverty
Defining Sociological Imagination
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

Poverty among Aboriginals entails poor living conditions on reserves, health and well-being struggles, and financially unstable families; relatively speaking to the majority of Aboriginals who are living in impoverished communities, these hardships usually commence in some way, shape, or form. The Canadian Feed the Children Charity (2017) notes that “Indigenous children in Canada are over two and a half times more likely to live in poverty than non-Indigenous children.” This number is quite high and is extremely unfortunate for children to have a potentially traumatic and unpleasant upbringing resulting in challenges throughout adolescent and adulthood years. Furthermore, statistics from a study conducted years before, in 2013 with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives state the rate at which Aboriginals in Canada are living in poverty. It was determined that 50 percent of status First Nations children in the Canadian context live in poverty based on the Low Income Measure (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2013). With Manitoba being the highest percentage from this resource, sitting at 62 percent living in poverty, it is evident that Aboriginals in Canada are struggling

In saying this, Aboriginal communities feel the need to be independent and seclude themselves from the rest of society as they proclaim and habituate on “their land” in the search for recognition and hierarchal treatment. Aboriginal peoples are constantly being stereotyped, ridiculed for their way of living, and essentially dismissed as human beings contributing to our society. These individuals get treated unfairly due to their upbringings and ways of living, leaving an unpleasant disconnect between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals, still today, many years