Sociological Imagination is where biography and history meet. It is the ability to see the connections and differences between personal troubles and public issues. A personal trouble is a problem of one individual. A public issue is a problem among many people. One person losing their job is a personal trouble, but many people losing their job is a public issue. Personal troubles lead to public issues, and public issues lead to personal troubles.
You need both historical conditions and personal biography to understand someone's social location. Social location--a group that people are a part of because of their place in history or society. This is many times defined by a person's race, religion, social class, gender, etcetera. Someone from America is not going to have to the same social location as someone from Germany, because Germany’s history is much different from America’s.
Historical conditions shape my life everyday. I was born in America, which means I am surrounded by gross food. Pizza, hotdogs, french fries, cheeseburgers, hot wings, ice cream, macaroni, chocolate milk, etcetera. I do not eat any of these foods, but because of past relations and events, I am now able to eat food from all over the globe. Historical conditions also shape my life everyday because attend school …show more content…
from kindergarten to 12th grade and then am expected to go on to college for another two to four years and then start my career. If I lived in Germany on the other hand, than I would be attending Grundschule from 1st grade to 4th grade, and then going on to Hauptschule, Realschule or Gymnasium, then starting my career. In Germany I would be considered an adult, where in the USA I am considered a teen or child.
Just like historical conditions, personal biography also has a great impact on my everyday life. Everything that has happened to me has impacted me in some way. I make my own decisions, and those decisions can help me, or hurt me. Everything we do is influenced by our past and our present society, and everything we do influences our future society.
Within my society I am a high schooler, and I am a vegan. During middle school I was a pretty happy person and I genuinely liked a lot of people, but once I became a high schooler that all changed. Becoming a high schooler made me realize how close I am to becoming an adult. I began to mature and see things differently, and I became more responsible and accountable. Although I matured during my first year of highschool, many in my class did not. I began to see and hear the immaturity of my peers and it began to make me mad. It turned annoyance to anger, and I no longer enjoyed my school, and most the people in it. This stopped me from joining new clubs and sports within the school because I didn’t want to be there any longer than I needed to be.
Since becoming vegan, it has not only changed my views on health and happiness, but it has also opened my eyes to a whole nother side of animal cruelty.
Before becoming vegan I was a hunter. I shot animals for fun and ate them. I thought meat was healthy and that it was normal to kill animals. I no longer hunt because I have seen the emotion that animals have and how similar they are to humans, and because of this I became more passionate and sympathetic. Instead I joined to trap team, so i am still able to use my talent without stopping another beating heart. No longer wanting to eat meat is a personal issue, but the cruel meat industry is a social
issue.
I think that everyone should have a sociological perspective on where they are in the world, because it makes our lives make sense. Everything you do has a cause and effect. Sociology is just looking deeper, and connecting it all. It makes everything start to fit together and make sense. Humans control this world, and sociology shows how big of an impact that every person has on the planet. Social imagination is useful when thinking about why many things happen. Pulling together past events and seeing how they correlate with your actions will help you feel free and aware of what you are doing at all times.