What Does It Mean To Have A Sociological Imagination

Explain what it means to have a sociological imagination and discuss how it impacts our interactions with others.
A sociological imagination is “how individuals understand their own and others’ pasts in relation to history and social structure” (Keirns, N., Strayer, E. Griffiths, H., Cody-Rydzewski, S., Scaramuzzo, G., Saddler, T. & Vyain, S., 2012). The sociological imagination impacts interactions with other people because everyone has a different perspective on issues and topics. For example, someone who was sexually assaulted as a young child might view sex with their spouse differently than someone who is a virgin or has always consented to sexual intercourse before they got married. A persons experiences shape their lens of how they view the world around them; everyone has a different pair of glasses that they view the
world through.
Which theory do you think better explains how societies operate – structural functionalism or conflict theory? Why?
According to Keirns, Strayer, Griffiths, Cody-Rydzewski, Scaramuzzo, Saddler & Vyain (2012), structural functionalism theory states that each part of society contributes to society as a whole.
They also state that conflict theory is when society is viewed as a competition for the limited resources that are available. Of these two theories, conflict theory is more realistic for how societies today operate. Most people view the world as how they can gain the most amounts of material substances compared to other people living in the world. Society views life as a competition for the resources that are available to the human race. For example, college students have scholarships that are available to them to assist in paying for expenses as they progress through their college careers. All of the college students that are eligible for these scholarships have to compete for these limited resources. It is a competition for who is better and fit for the monetary values of these scholarships. Conflict theory can be seen at play everywhere in society everyday, especially as the world becomes more populated and the resources available become more
limited.
Why are reliability and validity important in social research? Give examples to illustrate each. Reliability is the likelihood of study results being capable of being replicated again in another study; while validity is how well the results portray the intended purpose of the study (Keirns, N., Strayer, E. Griffiths, H., Cody-Rydzewski, S., Scaramuzzo, G., Saddler, T. & Vyain, S., 2012). These two components are important in social research for accuracy of the study results and also the design of the experiment (Keirns, N., Strayer, E. Griffiths, H., Cody-Rydzewski, S., Scaramuzzo, G., Saddler, T. & Vyain, S., 2012). An example of these concepts is the often-studied topic of teenage pregnancy. Accuracy of the study results can be seen when comparing the results of multiple studies. If the studies come up with statistics within a specific interval range of each other, then they are said to be accurate and reliable because they could be replicated in different studies. On the other hand, validity can be demonstrated if the statistics report the percentage of teenage pregnancies before a specific age, which was the intended purpose of the study. Results that would not hold validity would be statistics reporting the percentage of teenage girls who have lost their virginity before a specific age. There is a slight but subtle difference in those two questions that portray different results that could have been the goal of the study or otherwise not.