Sociological Imagination

Question 1

What does “This is Water” reference?

Answer 1

Humans are self-centered, but it is innate, since we perceive ourselves as the center

Question 2

What is sociological imagination?

Answer 2

The ability to connect personal issues, problems or experiences to the larger social structures

Question 3

What does the sociological imagination help us to do?

Answer 3

Making the familiar unfamiliar
Making the unfamiliar familiar

Question 4

According to C. Wright Mills, what does the sociological imagination compel us to do …

Answer 4

To look at our world like an outsider, as though it doesn’t already make sense to us

Question 5

What are troubles?

Answer 5

They are personal troubles (private -personal)
Ex. Divorce, weight

Question 6

What are the issues?

Answer 6

Public Issues
Ex. divorce rates, obesity rates

Question 7

What is biography?

Answer 7

A person’s own lives

Question 8

What is history?

Answer 8

The larger social and historical context

Question 9

What do we gain from using sociological imagination?

Answer 9

Understanding the world outside us-empathy
See how the individual and society are different but also connected
Solidarity (can connect us to others and make us feel seen)
Disempowerment (might think themselves as just a statistic after reading)
Encourage us that some of the personal troubles are connected to public issues which means we as individuals might feel less guilt about them