sad motion
1. In The Sociological Imagination, Mills discusses personal troubles and social issues. Define both of these terms and discuss two examples of both personal troubles and social issues from a sociological perspective.
According to Mills, personal trouble occurs within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others: they have to do with his self and with those limited areas of social life of which he is directly and personally aware. A trouble is a private matter: values cherished by an individual are felt by him to be threatened.
Social issues have to do with the organization of many such milieux into the institutions of an historical society as a whole, with the way in which various milieux overlap and interpenetrate to form the larger structure of social and historical life. An issue is a public matter: some value cherished by publics is felt to be threatened.
Example:
Unemployment. Only one man is unemployed in a city of 100,000 is his personal trouble, and for its relief we properly look to the character of the man, his skill, and his immediate opportunities. But when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are unemployed, that is an issue, and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of opportunities open to any one individual.
Marriage. Inside a marriage a man and a woman may experience personal troubles, but when the divorce rate during the first four years of marriage is 250 out of every 1,000 attempts, this is an indication of a structural issue having to do with the institutions of marriage and the family and other institutions that bear upon them.
2. Discuss core ideas of two out of the three sociological perspectives (symbolic interactionism, functionalism, conflict perspective)
Symbolic interactionism is based on five core ideas.:
1. It assumes that human beings act in terms of the meanings they assign to objects in their environment
2. Social action typically
According to Mills, personal trouble occurs within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others: they have to do with his self and with those limited areas of social life of which he is directly and personally aware. A trouble is a private matter: values cherished by an individual are felt by him to be threatened.
Social issues have to do with the organization of many such milieux into the institutions of an historical society as a whole, with the way in which various milieux overlap and interpenetrate to form the larger structure of social and historical life. An issue is a public matter: some value cherished by publics is felt to be threatened.
Example:
Unemployment. Only one man is unemployed in a city of 100,000 is his personal trouble, and for its relief we properly look to the character of the man, his skill, and his immediate opportunities. But when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are unemployed, that is an issue, and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of opportunities open to any one individual.
Marriage. Inside a marriage a man and a woman may experience personal troubles, but when the divorce rate during the first four years of marriage is 250 out of every 1,000 attempts, this is an indication of a structural issue having to do with the institutions of marriage and the family and other institutions that bear upon them.
2. Discuss core ideas of two out of the three sociological perspectives (symbolic interactionism, functionalism, conflict perspective)
Symbolic interactionism is based on five core ideas.:
1. It assumes that human beings act in terms of the meanings they assign to objects in their environment
2. Social action typically