Social Imagination

Sociology
In 1959, a prominent figure in sociology name C. Wright Mills, introduced the idea of sociological imagination. This was the awareness of a relationship between a society as a whole and an individual from the past to present day. Basically, it is being able to separate yourself from society and view it from the outside in. When you have a good sociological imagination you can easily understand how things come about. For example, why we do things and how we do things. You’re able to look at the bigger picture.
Sociological imagination is important for a few reasons. One reason is because you can apply what you learn from a society as a whole to your own life in a way that will benefit you. When a publiv figure or someone on the news makes a mistake, you can easily learn from that mistake rather than making the mistake yourself and dealing with the consequence of that action. Another reason is because we can find reason as to why certain things occur. For example, sociological imagination can help you understand why certain types of people get married. In 2013 a lot less people believe in marriage based on different reasons such as race, religion, and financial reasons. By using my sociological imagination I realized that this is most likely with the increase in unemployment combined with the economy. If you have no money or if you are unemployed due to the poor economy, you are more likely to be unhappy. Also, weddings can cost a lot of money, if you don’t have the money for the wedding you simply don’t get married. This leads to the marriage rate decreasing because it’s easier to stay in a long term relationship rather than “tying the knot” and being deeper in debt. We all know that history tends to repeat itself unless changes are made. With that being said, you can learn from history and past generations and apply what they learned to your life. However the upcoming generations have been changing rapidly. By doing this we are constantly progressing and learning from each other. Back then, interracial couples were greatly frowned upon. This race issue was caused by the structure of that society. However those times have come to an end in our society, so interracial couples exist everywhere. This is because our society no longer portrays racism as a huge issue. Older folks still look at color before judging someone, but that’s because their sociological imagination was shaped when they were younger and they’re stuck in their ways. As the generations pass everyone’s sociological imagination changes as well as the thoughts and beliefs of the people in that certain society.
In my grandmother’s days, if your parents were a certain religion then so were you. My grandma happens to be a Jehovah witness, this means she doesn’t celebrate holidays nor does she accept blood if she ever needed it. Unlike her though, I’m a Christian just like my mom, because that’s accepted in today’s society, so I celebrate my birthdays. Because my grandma doesn’t celebrate hers, I had no idea how old she was until this year. Recently my sister informed me that she was eighty nine years old, so to represent my grandmother’s life I’m wearing #89 on the football field. By wearing that number I’m representing everything my grandmother has taught me in my life time. Even though I live in a generation where I can date whoever I want and I can freely pick what I believe in, my personal beliefs still root from what I have learned from my grandmother. My sociological imagination wouldn’t be what it is today without the impact of my family and our family history.