Introductions - The Sociological Imagination Flashcards
Who created the Sociological Imagination
C.W. Mills (2000)
What is Sociological Imagination used for
Helps scholars understand the complexity of our social worlds
Sociological Imagination
An ability to see the context which shapes an individual’s decision making, as well as the decision made by others.
Sociological Imagination and Explanations
Helps develop reasonable explanations, by moving away from common sense and making it not make sense
Sociological Imagination and One’s Position Within the World
Enables us to situate ourselves within the world, by deconstructing our experiences, interactions and relationships, using the problems of biography [self], of history and of our intersections within a society. It helps us understand that there are different social worlds and each has different components, expectations, experiences, interactions, “common sense”, etc.
Sociological Imagination and Others’ Positions Within the World
Enables us to situate others within the world and grasp why and what others do, while also anchoring it to historical constraints, such as time, place, cultural phenomena, etc.
Main Question #1
What is the structure of this particular society as a whole? What are its essential components and how do they relate? How does this differ from other varieties of social order? Within it, what is the meaning of any particular feature for its continuance and for its change?
Main Question #2
Where does this society stand in human history? What are the mechanics by which it is changing? What is its place within and its meaning for the development of humanity as a whole?
Main Question #3
Who are the people in a society, how do they interact, function, contribute to the development of the society that made them, how do they compare to each other within a society and between societies?
Another word for structures
Institutions (religion, government, family, media, etc.)
What are mechanisms
Entities and aligned activities that affect social behaviour and change and are built from social institutions and change. Helps to investigate social control, role and change
Agency
One has the agency to choose what one does and on top of having a free will to choose, also an ability to take responsibility for one’s choices
Micro Level of Analysis
- More specific to the individual
- Ways individuals negotiate and compensate during interactions with their environment and other organisms
Meso Level of Analysis
- It is a between or a medium system
- Happens within specific groups, communities or institutions in specific parts of society (within political parties, ethnicities, communities, universities, etc.)
Macro Level of Analysis
- As a whole
- Social systems, institutions, hierarchies and patterns shape the way we behave, react & think
First element of analyzing sociological imagination
- We seek to find the inter-connection between personal experiences and large social forces (social movements). We examine the connections between biography and history - how we connect ourselves to society through time
Second element of analyzing sociological imagination
How do we or can we identify the social forces that impact us as individuals to create social action, when individuals are exposed to external forces, which continually modify behaviour. It is the process of seeing something happening and wondering why it is happening. Looks into how power or structure changes us overtime and questions how it elicits this change.
Troubles
Private; personal values that are threatened
Issues
Public; transcends our personal orbit and are recognized as structural or are institutionalized
Troubles vs Issues
- The trouble of being unemployed can lead to questions of why that person is unemployed (laziness, depression, etc.)
- The issue of being unemployed means there is a large proportion of unemployment, otherwise known as mass unemployment, which has less to do with morality and more to do with the social world. Someone who is part of this mass problem will be seen as being in an impossible situation
Willis’ Five Questions (2004)
- What is happening?
- Why is it happening and why is it important?
- What are the consequences of it?
- How do you know?
- How could it be otherwise?
(Which forces need to be challenged to enable change and what perspective might change)
Sociological Approach of Health and Illness
While in the medical world there is a tendency to bring the human out and focus on cells, in social sciences, there is a focus on looking at how things are embodied by humans. It brings back the ‘person’ element when studying the body
General focus of Sociology of Health and Illness
- How social forces/mechanisms (social movements) promote health and illness (health influencers on social media platforms, influencing health behaviours through institutions)
- Why do some groups suffer from illness more than others
- In what ways do people experience illness
- How do health care systems impact the general population, the majority, and/or minority groups
Health as a social construction
- Social location (factors) influences our physical health & wellness
- Health is typically best understood when it is gone, when it is defined in relation to illness
- Our social location impacts our physical health and well-being
- Surviving is no longer the issue, living happier, longer and healthier is the focus now; health surpasses the biophysical, it goes beyond instinctual drive for survival
