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Impact of media on individual
Impact of media on individual
How does sociological imagination relate to sociological perspective
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Sociological Imagination is essential realizing that how you feel personally, emotionally, or physically is also being felt by everyone else in society, and this opens up a whole new perspective of understanding. And this new understanding is so important to being compassionate and empathetic with someone because you are also in the same boat. Like when it comes to self-image and self-love. I always had the issue of loving myself for what God made me, because of what I 've internalized on watching tv, reading magazines, and etc. Viewing images of skinny, blonde hair, blue-eyed, gorgeous women, I associated was a real beauty. Much to my displeasure to learn, that millions of women also have internalized this. It’s also displeasing to know that …show more content…
At a young age, I already internalized so much self-hatred because of the color of my skin and hair. I struggle with this immensely since I’d watch Disney movies, that only popularize one racial demographic, and the only person that I could semi look up to was Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. But there was no real representation of minorities when I was growing up, so I strived like any other person would to be a Disney princess. I always asked my mom to put weave in my hair or do something with it, so I could have long flown hair like Princess Ariel, from The Little Mermaid movie, or strive to look as beautiful as Princess Aurora when she was sleeping. And I continued to struggle with these ideas that what is beautiful was to be white. And I just couldn 't comprehend at the time, that I was already beautiful just the way I am. It wasn’t until I got to high school, where I somewhat shed these ideas on what was beautiful. I just realized that the media and the movies are essentially fake and photoshopped. And the models for the tv and magazines were too boney and hungry. I got used to my curves and by the body by that time. But I didn’t really show forth pride for my melanin nor color. I just accepted the fact that I was black and born that way. I didn’t realize how rich and important my color is as well as my culture. It was until I started school, here in the University of Boston, …show more content…
and this has been internalized by everyone in the African Diaspora. This affects their self-esteem, respect, and their love for themselves. because they believe that they are ugly or not beautiful because they are not white. Black men help the situation neither, where they segregate their own race, like in music videos and movies. Black men, always ensured that they have the lights skins models and dancers, that have the hourglass figure with big butts. This is particularly damaging to our women whose skin is darker, body different from what it saw on Tv. it 's hard to find someone who has the same feature as you on tv when it is only one form that is being shown. And to relate it to slavery, and how the African-Americans were so divided within each other because of the field slave vs house slave mentality which is an example of the In-group and out-group (Sociology 101 Lecture, “Groups and Organization”, September 29th, 2016.) The field slaves didn 't care for the slave master and don 't respect him at all because he doesn 't respect them as human beings. Whereas, the house slaves, even though they receive the same treatment as the field slave, they believe that they are better than the field slaves. because they get to live in the house and is able to eat the same food as their master (even though the food is just scraps of what was left). And they are overtly concern for their
The sociological imagination is the ability to connect your own life and experiences to other people as well as history. When you take a deep breath to think about what you are doing and where you are at in life to see how it fits into your ultimate path you are using your social imagination. It is actually frightening in some cases to think how painstakingly average what you are doing is. I think that is part of the reason many people seek for something in life that gives them a sense of individuality. For example, while attending soccer practice, you do something that you think is extraordinary, but then another player steps up and does the same thing. If you stop and think about how many other kids are able to perfect and perform the same
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
Oppression disguises itself in various spheres, including Black womanhood. This classification includes societal pressures of Black women to conform to Eurocentric values, such as in beauty, gender, and families. The standard of European beauty is imposed on Black women, in which they feel subjected
Attending a predominantly white school, white people were very interested, or rather over interested, in the so-called black culture. Being in a space that had minority black people, oppression was felt on the highest level. Anything that may have remotely involved the black skin, was downplayed and undermined, and more cases than one, my voice was silenced. From this experience, I started realising that wherever I may go, the female black body was not correctly or remotely represented positively in the media and in general society. For many years, as a regular television watcher, I began to realise that the media and entertainment industry did not put black women in power or inspiration, but women who are needy, sexual objects or women who play second best to men. In my educational systems, I have not been exposed to black lectures or teachers enough, and I realised that we were not being correctly and rightfully represented. As a black body, I am aware that I occupy space in a white environment, and that much of what I do is under the scope of white supremacy. Much of the experiences I have at my university are very much related to my racial profiling, and my level of intelligence is marked according to how I look eternally. Daily, I am constantly reminded that I am black as if it is something to be ashamed of social elite environment. In the article written by Dill and Zambara,
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...
Being a woman is hard work. We many have pressures on us from society to marry, bear children, be an upstanding citizen, and maintain some sort of career, all the while trying to understand our bodies and its changes; being a woman of color, or black woman, it’s even harder. Not only do we have to deal with everything a White woman does, and we also have the added pressure of defying stigmas and stereotypes within our own group of people. What stigma’s you ask? How about not being perceived as ignorant, uneducated, and or “ghetto”. The stereotypical misrepresentations of African-American women and men in popular culture have influenced societal views of Blacks for centuries. The typical stereotypes about Black women range from the smiling, asexual and often-obese Mammy to the promiscuous and the loud, smart mouthed, neck-rolling Black welfare mother is the popular image on reality television. These images portrayed in media and popular culture creates powerful ideology about race and gender, which affects every day experiences of Black women in America.
In today’s society, it is easy to spot someone blaming themselves for the occurrence of their personal life problems. For example, a single-mother may blame herself for not being able to support her children well due to a shortage of money and unavailability to find a decent job. Another could be a newly wed couple having daily arguments that may lead to their divorce, or women who are facing difficulties perceiving their housekeeping responsibilities and wanting to become something more than just a homemaker. These various private tensions may seem very personal. These dilemmas are all related to a bigger world called society and this is known as the sociological imagination. Sociological imagination suggests that people look at their own personal troubles as social issues and, in general try to connect their own individual encounters with the workings of society. The personal problems are closely related to societal issues such as unemployment, marriage, war and even the city life where the private troubles and the public issues become clearly apparent. With the understanding of the sociological imagination, I began to notice the daily choices I make, the classes I attend, the way I was raised by my parents, the group of people I choose to hang out with, the things I like to converse about with others are all somehow affected by public issues and what society tends to make us believe is right. There are many areas in my life where I feel that I am greatly affected by various sociological theories such as events dealing with gender and sexuality, family and culture, ethnicity and race, and social class and work.
I still need to learn how to stop judging people by how they look. I don’t mean that I judge people by their skin color, but by how they dress and what kind of cloths they are in. Everyone should wear what they feel good in, wear what they want to without anyone telling them they shouldn’t. I would like to be more open minded, but it doesn’t help that my mother makes those comments all the time about how someone is dressed. Race plays more of a role in my life than I would like it to. I am a white female, so I am seen as both privileged and oppressed, privileged because I am white, oppressed because I am a woman. I want to break my chains of oppression, break the chains of privilege, I want to be defined by who I am, not by what I look like or what gender I
...being as close to white as possible. Black people and black culture is looked down upon as being dirty and inappropriate. Beauty, in essence, is having blond hair, blue eyes, and a clean, plastic family. The roles of each member of the family are fixed, and each person fulfills them with good cheer. This standard of beauty is then applied to everyone as a kind of scale of quality. A person who matches this standard is "good" and is respected for being so. A person who does not match the standard, or does not choose to conform to it, is not looked down upon. Not only are all people measured by this standard, people are aware of it at an early age. The "Dick and Jane" books read by children in school, clearly define beauty. More importantly, these books show that happiness can only be attained through beauty, and that an ugly person can never really be happy or good.
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
Sociological imagination (perspective) is a term coined by C. Wright Mills, which enables us to grasp the connection between history and biography. The term means understanding human behavior by placing it within its broader social context (Henslin 1:2–3). Society molds our personal experiences, and society is directly affected by the historical period in which we live. It encourages us to examine subjects with a broader view, which is a more holistic approach to better understanding the events happening in our lives. Doing this might uncover underlying causes and possible solutions for circumstances that might seem inexplicable or trivial with using a basic approach. We are a part of society, and day-to-day personal experiences are related
The topics of race and discrimination in the journal article show disturbing data of African Americans who are more likely to have physical and mental health issues. The constant exposure to racism that African Americans face leads to serious health issues such as hypertension, depression, and feelings of unworthiness. In Du Bois’s article “Du Bois stressed the role of socioeconomic inequality, such as unit housing, unsanitary living conditions, and poor food quality”. (Monk 397) It seems as if African Americans are going through these socioeconomic inequalities because of race and how they less fortunate because of societal views. Going back to the history of slavery, light skinned blacks were favored more than darker skinned field slaves. Usually, light skinned blacks received less discrimination than darker blacks. Even the idea of socioeconomic inequality is similar to the way light skinned blacks were treated better by white minorities, when it came to buying property from real estate. It seems as if physical appearance is a crucial element for determining factors about people.
The first concept that I had to process is sociological imagination. On a personal note, my ability to understand
We all need to come together and stop giving into the white standards. The phrase “My Black is Beautiful” has to be said more so that they understand that it is okay to love your skin. It may be hard for some people to do, but it will take time. Our beauty has become a battleground, and this comes from years of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. The unprocessed collective pain from these destructive social experiences has been passed down through generations. As a result, there is so much pain living on our skin and we are trying to escape
Consequently, I feel misunderstood at times. I had this hole in my heart, where the love and affection of my biological mother belonged. A lot of my childhood involved being anxious about whether I would find my spot in a world where it seemed like everyone looked different than me. However, everything I felt, the discrimination, the disapproving whispers, and the loss I endured all happened for a reason: to strategically mold me into the person I am today. My experience and viewpoints have lent me the desire to use my education for better and to be someone who strives to create an accepting, understanding society. I find the world around me to be fascinating; it’s a jumbled up, beautiful chaos that tugs at us from every angle. My world has been turned upside down by the recent political turmoil. Last year, I began to understand what it means to be confident with who you are. Seeing people who so eagerly will tear into you, simply because of the color of your skin has always affected me. But now, I see things differently… I don’t desire to look like my peers anymore, I desire to show others why it’s imperative to listen and accept