The Concept of Social Imagination - Assignment Example

Family Diagram and Essay [Name] [Professor Name] [Course] [Date] Introduction The concept of social imagination refers to the process of examining an individual’s attitudes and behaviours within the context of social forces that mold them. It is based on the assumption that changes in the society deeply influence human lives (Brewer 2004). This essay explores how social imagination help understand the relationships between personal histories and broader social trends. This is reflected in the discussions on how personal experiences can provide evidence for critical understanding of the social life. The significance of family diagram in understanding the circumstances underlying demographic changes over three generations is further examines. Using a personal reflection, the essay compares the life circumstances surrounding the inheritance of diabetes across three generations in my lineage. Other issues examined include educational attainments, work and migrations. How can the sociological imagination help us understand the relationship between our personal histories and broader social trends? Sociological imagination describes the process of examining people’s attitudes and behaviours within the context of social forces that mould them (Brewer 2004). Social imagination can help us understand the relationship between our personal histories and social trends. For instance, it allows its possessor to understand the broader historical scene with reference to the meaning prescribed to the inner life and the external livelihood of several people. In addition, it enables one to examine how individuals can become erroneously conscious of their social conditions or statuses while in the confused multitude of their daily experiences (Anonymous 2001). Within the confusion, the structure of the modern society can be established and within that structure, the psychologies of several individuals can be formulated. Through these, the personal disquiet of individuals is focused on certain specific problems. At the same time, the unresponsiveness of the public is changed into involvement with the public issues (Henslin 2008). A key product of social imagination is the idea that people get to understand their personal experiences and fate from their historical concept by locating themselves within their periods. Consequently, they get to understand their chances in life through becoming aware of all individuals in the same social trend. This analysis is grounded on the broader materialistic conception of history and an assumption that class struggle is the primary motive force behind history (Brewer 2004). Sociological imagination allows us to understand our history and social trends and the correlation between them in the society (Giddens 2006). Through social perspective, we can understand that the limits of human nature are astonishingly broad. We can also understand that each individual lives from a generation to the other, or that individuals live out of a biography and out within certain historical cycle (Imhoff 2001). Through the reality of living, individuals contribute, even though circumstantially, to the moulding of the society and the social trends and through the historical forces that pushes it (social trend) to another generation (Brewer 2004). The historical forces that shape the society also have an impact on the social trends. For instance, the major social trend within global capitalism is to export jobs to nations where labourers earn one dollar or two a day (Henslin 2008). The global force has certain positive impacts, such as reduced labour cost. However, it also has some negative effects to the workers who lose their jobs and after long periods of searching for the jobs, they ended up with jobs that pay less than what they previously earned. This scenario has been tagged as personal troubles in reference to the extent in which large-scale events of history causes trouble to people’s lives (Anonymous 2001; Brewer 2004; Ross and Cobb 1990). Sociological imagination also enables us to re-examine our lives and how social trends shape our lifestyle, attitudes, ideas, emotions and behaviours (Brewer 2004). How family diagrams can help us understand something about the demographic changes over three generations Family diagram refers to a pictorial display of an individual’s family relationships, or medical history (McGoldrick and Gerson 1988). It is a type of family tree that enables visualization of psychological and hereditary factors that characterise relationships. They can also be referred as graphic representation or of the family history, depicting the basic structure, pattern, family demographics, relationships and functioning (McGoldrick and Gerson 1988). Simply put, it is a short hand that depicts the family patterns and history at a glance. Hence, family diagrams can be used in sociology to identify the recurring patterns and the hereditary tendencies. Basically, a family is identifiable as an element of a broader relationship that connects ancestors to descendants of an individual. Essentially, a family diagram contains information on the family it represents (Nam 2004). In addition to showing the names of people who belong to an individual’s lineage, it illustrates how the relatives are related to each other (see Figure 1). Figure 1: A typical family tree diagram Family diagrams can help us understand elements of demographic changes over three generations. One significant change that family diagram depicts is marriage. Since the diagram provides a three-generational picture of a family and its progression through a lifecycle, one is able to understand the marriage and remarriage change over time in his lineage. For instance, after marriage, the family diagram shows how two separate families joint together. It also indicates where each spouse is located in the family cycle (Kennedy 2010; Naido 2013). Family diagrams can also enable an individual to understand the births and deaths in a family lineage. McGoldrick and Gerson (1988) explain that the family is a complex phenomenon. Hence, it is a spiral of family change (progression) as generation progress over time in their development from birth to death. The family diagram enables one to understand the change in the ages of members of a family as they progress through life cycle. McGoldrick and Gerson (1988) argue that there is a normative timing for each of the phases of a family history. In their view, these norms are always changing and vary throughout history and across cultures. However, they also serve as the starting point for interpreting the changes in lifecycle in a family (Rempel, Neufeld and Kushner 2007). Family diagrams also provide a quick map or graphical representation of the change in sibling constellation. McGoldrick and Gerson (1988) posit that family diagrams may disclose certain change in circumstances in the family lineage that may contribute to the possibility of a child having special responsibility or position in the family. This is because the diagram can show the typical mother-father-child triangles of the period. Family diagrams can also reveal stressors during the transition to parenthood that parents have to bear during child rearing while at the same time endeavouring to maintain their relationship. The diagram may often show the stressors that make the child rearing phase a difficult one for parents. McGoldrick and Gerson (1988) discuss that family diagrams are important in revealing change effects over three generations as it enables and individual to evaluate the lifecycle transition in an effort to examine the stressor invading on the family at the time. For instance, when the individual sees simultaneous traumatic events or losses on the diagram, the possible effects on the process of lifecycle can be easily understood. Loss is, from a systematic perspective, viewed as a significant change in that disrupts lifecycle (Kennedy 2010). Overall, family diagrams can be used to gather consistent and objective information from an individual and his family, and hence helps in viewing the individual’s issues from the broader context of his marital relationship, cultural origin, family relationships and medical disorders. Difficulties faced in constructing the diagram and the new symbols used needed to construct to reflect family circumstances. A number of problems were faced in constructing the family diagram. For instance, due to isolation, it was difficult to understand the circumstance facing some members of my family line and whether there have been recent births or deaths. This is particularly because a large section of my family lives abroad, and because of the geographical dispersion, it has been difficult to stay in touch. This difficulty relates to the family systems theory, which suggests that members within a family cannot be understood when they are in isolation as the family is an emotional unit. According to the theory, a family is an interconnected system with interdependent individuals, each of whom can only be understood when not isolated from the system (Genopro 2013). In any case, several symbols were used to reflect the family circumstances while constructing the family diagram. For instance, the female is shown by a circle, while the male is shown by a square. In depicting relationships, two persons who are married are showed to be linked by a line that passes horizontal linking a circle to a square. The wife is shown on the right and the husband on the left (see Figure 2). A slash across the connecting line shows the two are separated. Additionally, a male with diabetes is shown with a yellow square inside the bigger square that symbolises the male, while the female with diabetes is shown with a yellow triangle inside a circle. Figure 2: Genogram showing inheritance of diabetes (Adapted from SmartDraw 2013) Diabetes Inheritance through my family History My project focuses on my family history going as far back as 1883 to show inheritance of diabetes in my family line. My great-great-great grandfather Geoffrey Smith was born in 1883 in Alabama, the United States. My great-great-great grandmother was born in 1885. In the year that Geoffrey was born, some landmark events had happened in the history of mankind. The world’s first commercial electric railway line was launched. Secondly, Alabama had become the first state in the US to ratify an antitrust bill. When Sarah was born, a special mail delivery service started operation across the United States. In addition, the world’s first gas pump began operation. In the year 1905, Geoffrey and Sarah got married. In the first year of their marriage, Geoffrey, who was a construction worker, found a job with an international construction company in Sydney. He moved to Australia along with his family. In that year, their first child was born. She was named Elizabeth. 2 other children were born in the following years, Edward and Georgia. Out of the three children, Elizabeth, who was my great-great grandmother, was diagnosed with diabetes. She lived on in Sydney where she met Harry in 1930. The two were married and had five children, named Tom, Harry, Simon, William and Catherine. Catherine who became my great grandmother was born in 1942 at the beginning of the Second World War. She went on to become a biologist. She too was diagnosed with diabetes. She was first truly educated person in my family lineage with a doctorate. Catherine moved to London in 1962 to study at Cambridge University where he met Justine, an Australian, in 1965. The two moved back to London in 1967 after which they married and had six children: George, Harry, Susan, Sarah, Christopher and Joan. Of the six kids, my father Christopher was the fifth. Christopher was also diagnosed with diabetes. He went on to study electrical engineering at the University of Sydney, where he met my mother Jessica. The two have had three kids, including my brother Jack, my sister Kimberly and myself. Conclusion From the discussion, it is critical to conclude that social imagination helps us understand our personal experiences and fate from a historical perspective. Consequently, we get to understand the circumstances that characterise our lives in the present generation. For instance, I have learnt that my father’s diabetic status is a consequence of inheritance that goes as far back as 1883 when my great-great-great grandfather Geoffrey was born. The pattern can help predict susceptibility to the diabetic condition in our family. It is also critical to understand that the family diagram can help map out the prevalence of the disease through generational lifecycle going as far back as centuries. 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