Social Imagination Analysis

The social imagination is defined by Dalton as “the ability to see the connections between our personal experience and the larger forces of history” (Dalton, 2015).

What does this mean? How can it be used? It is primarily used to provide a mechanism for a sociologist to analyze his or her perspective on a situation, see the

situation from a differing point of view, and change his or her perspective.

An important aspect of sociological imagination is to avoid routine purpose for activity. Why is something done this way? Is it just “the way it have always been done”? By

nature, I am a questioning person. I often want to know why certain traditions or actions are continued, and I examine and question some of the assumptions I hold, looking
at the

event or action from differing perspectives. After pondering the rationales for each perspective, I then see the event in relation to a larger group of people and society. I believe

that students of sociology can follow these methods to develop a sociological imagination.

How can sociological imagination be applied? The example activity is drinking coffee from Starbucks.People could drink coffee for the researched and verifiable health benefits

of caffeine; they could drink coffee due to addiction to its mild stimulating effect; it could drink it due to be considered a tradition or ritual to drink coffee at a certain time in a

certain place; people could drink a particular style or brand of coffee in an attempt to inflate their social standing; and drinking coffee from Starbucks could be seen as a social

vehicle to facilitate meeting other people, instead of which beverage was consumed while meeting these people.