Theory of the Sociological Imagination - Research Paper Example

Sociological Imagination involves the potential of one to understand and imaging the intersection of an individual biography with the social historical structures. It is the center stage of sociology. It involves the art of imagining that the life of an individual gives meaning, significance, and form in the history of particular cultures, and the organization of the social life. Sociological perspective involves the study of different social phenomena through different sociologists from various perspectives. It is the manner in which one may view the society. It considers the relationship, people, and the function of different social organizations. Sociological perspective has three paradigms including conflict theory, symbolic interaction, and functionalism. In essence sociological perspective involves the manner of viewing certain phenomena of the society such as cultures, social institution, and religion among other factors. The manner in which the phenomenal work, and their importance defines the sociological perspective. Sociological imagination involves the way one wants things to be in the society, how one thinks of their relation. Sociological perspective and sociological imagination help sociologist to identify the particular behavior of human beings. Sociological imagination enables men and women utilize information in developing reason so as to achieve lucid summation regarding whatever happens in the world, and whatever could be happening within an individual. Individuals in the society go through some social challenges like being poor, or unemployed. These challenges, according to sociologists, are rooted within the challenges that stem out from the aspects of society. This paper explores the aspects of social imagination and social perspective as defined by sociologists. The theory of sociological imagination advanced by Wright Mills involves a belief that allows an individual to understand the bigger picture of the role of humans in the society together with the personal role. The theory shows that for any individual to identify his or her moral values, he or she needs to understand the societal history, and take part in the public issues within the society instead of living a life that is isolated. In such involvement, an individual would be able to address the life troubles that result from the society. Mills asserted that sociological imagination are made up by the mind quality which allows an individual to grasp biography and history and the link between the two in the society. Sociological imagination helps one to shift from one perspective to the next, thus creating a complex sociocultural view. Sociological imagination is an explanation of the requirement for the moral values. In the foundation of both the society and the individual, moral values are basic. The specific moral values of a person are shaped and shared among other individuals. The society forces and the constant alterations in it make people to rethink their values to satisfy the shifts in the society. This poses a general question in the society regarding the moral values. Persons who lack the sociological imagination may become disoriented in the society such that they become morally insensible. To elaborate the aspects of sociological imagination and sociological perspective, I will describe the events that affect me. The first event involves the story of how I came from Saudi Arabia to study in USA. Using sociological imagination with social Contexts to describe the way I used research in internet to come to USA as sociological. Social stratification is the process by which a society ranks categories of persons in a hierarchy. This means that social stratification characterizes a society and involves both beliefs and inequality. In view of Anderson social stratification involves patterned social inequality, whose differences occur with regularity, on a wider scale basis, and along lines of specific, and identifiable characteristic such as class, gender and race. The role of education system is a reproduction of the culture of the dominant classes. The United States, as a superpower, and one that impresses education, has a wide, and strong influence and wide prevalence. It imposes pressure and exerts huge influence of minority cultures. This means that having learned South Arabia and now in America, a dominant culture, I had to learn the rule of the game, and therefore, acquired the necessary knowledge to enable me function well in this group. Knowledge acquired include English language, individual motivation, desire for advancement, leadership skills, participation in extracurricular activities, belief in personal self and ability, skill development and positive academic behavior. I, therefore, have the much needed power to impose meaning and impose it legitimately to other subcultures. Other subcultures, for instant Africa, where education is limited to the few, my culture is perceived as worthy of being possessed and sought and as a basis for knowledge in their education system. The symbolic interaction theory is an approach that best describes the meaning of items, which are recognized by people in a society because such people are part and parcel of the single society. In this approach, it is believed that individuals sharing a society and a culture attach the same meanings to certain ideas or symbols. Societies differ in terms of how they value different things in life. The social-conflict theory is an approach that sees a society as an arena for inequalities, and that which generates change and conflict. This conflict is born because of individuals in the society pursuing their own agendas. This theory sees conflict as a fundamental part of the society. Functionalism or structural functionalism is an approach that sees a society as a complex system and one with parts that function together to promote stability and solidarity. This theory looks at a society from a macro-level orientation. It broadly focuses on social structures that work to shape a society in totality. The proponents of this theory believes that a society evolved like organisms. The theory looks at both social functions and social structures. Functionalism addresses society in terms of functions of its elements; namely customs, norms, traditions, and institutions. As a theory, structural-functional theory attempts to explain why a society functions in a certain way, and why individuals decide to perform certain tasks. This theory views a society as complex, and interconnected system, in which each part functions together as a functional whole (Bourdieu 44). In basic terms, functionalism emphasizes the effort to impute, to each custom, practice, or feature, its effects on the working of a supposedly, cohesive and stable system. (Weininger 23) In conducting investigation, researchers often use varied methods. One such method is interviewing. An interview is basically a purposeful conversation, where a person (interviewer) asks prepared questions with another person (respondent) responding. Generally, interview, as a research method, is both advantageous and disadvantageous. Interviews are advantageous in studies where a researcher deals with entangling complex topics. According to this study, interviewing produce higher response rate, and it is more appropriate, in cases, where respondents lack reading skills necessary to responding to a questionnaire. It is through this method that an interviewer can get a chance to probe deeper into responses of an interviewee. On the other hand, conducting an interview is time consuming. It is not appropriate for a large number of people. It is also noted that, in an interview, an interviewer can be biased in asking closed questions. The inconsistency by the interviewer can adversely affect data (Lareau 34). Cultural diversity involves social class. As widely used in everyday life, culture means forms of art such as music, dance, painting ad classical literature. People who go to the theater is described as being cultured because of the idea that they appreciate finer details more than others while ordinary people are less mentioned with an assumption that everyday culture is less worthy. This kind of judgment implies that certain cultural patterns are somewhat readily accessible to certain members of society. This explains why cultural patterns are often associated with given classes. Society is divided into different social classes. These social classes represent differences in values, norms, attitudes, norms, and thinking among different groups. These attitudes, norms, and values may relate to marriage institutions, family, education, earning a living, religion, and even their political behaviors. In this case, culture is divided into popular culture, high culture and culture of poverty. High culture is cultural patterns distinguishing a society of the elites. Popular culture is cultural patterns that are widespread in the population while culture of poverty is the cultural patterns that are shared by those who are poor. The discussion on the contemporary world over the role of various genders can be described to highly laced with feminism based topics. This is in accordance to the description and policies that are proposed for consideration during such forums. It is argued that the plight of the female gender has become a focus of the contemporary world. The eventual implication of this development is the subsequent proposal of the address of the effects issues such as marginalized and neglected gender. The apparent effect from the continuous debate on the rejuvenation of the feminine gender may be described as the fuel behind the development of a society that is grossly saturated with feminine elements. This includes the definitions, proposal and objectives that simply oriented along the demands of the female gender. The eventual assertion that can be described for this development may be defined as the interrogation of the channels that seek transform the contemporary society into a feminism oriented society. This assertion may be visualized via the evaluation of the systemic of operations that are witnessed in a significant proportion of a leading organization. The idea of incorporating or the pursuit of activities that steer towards the accomplishment of the international trend is quite common. On that note, the demands of logics seem to compel such organizations to sink by the trends, and embrace the culture on adoption. This description assists in identifying the arm-twisting forces that assist in the determination of the decision partaken by an organization. However, the primary discussion focused on the feminism development in the contemporary society. The link between these two sub-entries may be identified via the visualization of feminism as an arm-twisting condition. This is based on the prospect upon which the promotion of the idea is achieved. Interrogation of the appropriate channels that promote the opinion of feminism may assist in the identification of the driving force behind the development. It is apparent that the utilization of female based agendas in the realization of various economic based decisions has rocked the contemporary world. Such methodologies have sought to focus on issues such gender parity, the unequivaled representation of members of the female gender into various forums, as well as their representation in non elective positions. These agendas have been ensilaged in the constitution, as well as in other essential documents of governance. Their incorporation implies that the developmental procedures upon which documents were incorporated was rather oriented increasingly saturated with the efforts of achieving these ambitions. A reflection on yet another effective additive of the contemporary world indicates an increased preference of feminism based content. On reference is the contemporary society media, a platform that is tasked with the dispensation of the information as well as entertainments. However, a significant percentage of the context is based or conveyed by the lenses of feminism. This can be captured in form of advertisements or the content on display. The increased saturation of a wide variety of female products in the market implies that they proceed to dictate the terms of time quantification tasked for promotions. This is also evident in many fashion shops. The robust involvement of feminism into the contemporary day media can be described to match the descriptions accorded to the two genders. The assertion that is quantified along this line of description is that the female gender is considered as the fairer gender. The implication of such quantification includes the assertions that point on the increased dominance of feminism based visualizations in the media. In addition, there are increased prospects of allowing feminism based programs to populace a significant proportion of the media content since the leading options of promotions are designed along their interests. This assertion may not sound as friendly or convenient as it may be desired. However, the prospect of the truths behind its realization in the contemporary society is rather true. As a resultant measure, the message depicted by the media channels to the production world is that of an increased desire to accommodate production lines that facilitate or accommodate the developing trends. This implies that the possibility of sustaining a comprehensive command of the consumer market requires the investment into feminine-based products. Apparently, the manufacturing sector cannot be judged on their preference since it is only based on the translation of the received information. The manufactures can be described to have been the respondents of the already existing trend. This isolates them from presume of any prejudistic assertions. An observation of yet another section of the contemporary world that can be identified along the descriptions of feminism may lead to the fashion industry. This section of the society is grossly associated with the development of the clothing upon which the society is anticipated to dress. The implication of such an assertion may visualize the image of a society that is balanced in terms of expressions. However, the contemporary day fashion house is filled with attires and clothing that seek to promote the conviction of feminism, again. The number of attires that are generated with the focus of the women fraternity in mind is rather accelerated as compared to their male counterparts. The implication of such a deduction may be weighed against the saturation of gender based content in the contemporary society. This assertion can be described to be conclusive on the argument. On that note, the increased consideration of feminine content in the contemporary world cannot be assumed. Upon contrasting with the percentage concentrations of male based content, a conclusion on the dominance of feminism in the contemporary world can be reaffirmed. Work Cited Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Richard Nice (tr.). Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1984. Print Lareau, Annette. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2003. Print. Weininger, Elliot. Foundations of Pierre Bourdieu’s Class Analysis. In: Wright, E. O. (ed.), Approaches to Class Analysis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005. Print. Read More