Sociological Thinking/Imagination Flashcards
Science vs Sociology:
- cannot meet rigorous demands of the scientific method
- requires a different orientation toward knowledge and a different perspective on human social interactions
Sociology:
- how questions not why or should questions
- both/and vs either/or thinking
- right and wrong
- true and false
Sociological imagination:
about the relationships between personal biography, history, and social forces beyond the control of the individual
Mills (1959) clarified the relationship between the ____ and _____ that is opposite what most people assume.
- individual
- society
Discuss the phrase “the very structure of opportunities has collapsed”:
- fewer opportunities for success are placed in front of some people
- somehow, somewhere along the way, opportunities stopped being generated for many
- who’s fault is it when people don’t succeed?
Sociological imagination requires a back and forth thinking from ____ to ____.
- individual
- society
Common sense approach: the biggest loser:
- look at all these overweight people
- how can we explain this?
- because they are lazy, weak willed, and a failure, which is why we have an epidemic in today’s society
Sociological imagination approach: the biggest loser:
- look at all these fast food joints, loopholes in food labeling, wealth gap etc.
- What effect could these be having?
- producing obesity
The Biggest Loser is a TV show and thus is embedded in numerous _____ and _____ contexts.
- institutional
- structural
Other sociological elements of The Biggest Loser:
- capitalism
- competition
Capitalism element of The Biggest Loser:
means that products have to be placed in the show and marketed
Competition element of The Biggest Loser:
contestants are competing against each other and themselves
How does capitalism and competition both feed the common sense view of obesity?
- products are marketed to contestants that promise to give an edge over other contestants
- you can consume your way to health
Capitalism and competition reflect the ____ ____ in which TBL is produced.
social structures
If we are unable to focus on the social issue of obesity, we can expect to see ….
the incidence of obesity rise, even as more individuals take action to manage their weight
Example of both/and thinking with sociological imagination:
need to focus on social issue, but individual effort is still needed
People who are obese are less ____ than _____ of our system.
- victims
- products
Our system is comprised of….
- neoliberalism
- capitalism
- overconsumption
- meritocracy
- time scarcity
- free market ideology
- individualism
Identification of ____ ____ results in different solutions coming to light.
social factors
Fixing the obesity problem might mean supporting a change to _____:
- taxation
- instead of a flat 10% provincial tax up to 128k, a more progressive system would allow us to combat obesity
We have a tendency, as a culture, to believe in…
the power of individual action, will, and perseverance to overcome obstacles
The challenge of teaching the sociological perspective is to ….
- overcome a lifetime of cultural conditioning
- teach them how to recognize social issues and to address them with systematic rather than individual solutions
4 themes of personal responsibility in TBL:
- only the strong survive
- pulling big numbers
- deserving and needing
- making the right choices
“only the strong survive”:
- criteria for joining the show (need desire)
- those who lose the most weight are allowed to continue
“pulling big numbers”:
- losing several pounds a week
- normalizes the idea that weight loss or weight management take a heroic effect (people without weight problems are morally superior/stronger)
- audiences pick favourites
- audiences think that contestants that fail to lose sufficient weight have only themselves to blame
“Deserving and needing”:
- big numbers are a score that ranks people according to how they deserve to win
- those who pull big numbers are presumed to be more deserving to win
- eliminated because they are declared strong enough to keep losing weight at home
“making the right choices”:
product placement
Moral panic:
a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to social values and interests
An epidemic is not a problem of ____ _____, it is a ____ ____.
- individual behaviour
- social issue
Although sport practices embody specific and identifiable ____, ____, and ____, they are typically viewed by both participants and spectators as _____ and ____ in nature.
- purposes
- values
- meanings
- ahistorical
- apolitical
Sociological imagination articulates the connection between ____ ___ and ____ ____.
- personal troubles
- public issues
