Sociological Imagination Essay Example
We live in a regime which promotes the ideas of egalitarianism. An egalitarian favours equality of some sort: People should get the same, or be treated the same, or be treated as equals, in some respect. Egalitarian doctrines tend to express the idea that all human persons are equal in fundamental worth or moral status (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2002) but in reality equality, especially racial equality is a huge farce. In my essay I will attempt to describe Mills concept “The Sociological Imagination” and common-sense explanation and use the main ideas and differences between sociological imagination and common-sense to analyse the topic of racism in UK.
Sociological imagination – what is it? The term Sociological imagination was coined by a colourful and controversial New York‘s Columbia‘s university professor C. Wright Mills. The sociological imagination is the ability to see the interrelationships between biography and history, or the connections between our individual lives and larger social forces at work shaping our lives (K. Brown, 2005). One of the primary goals and main benefits of sociological imagination are to help to develop the ability to participate in social life and then step back and analyze broader meanings of what is going on in the world around us and finally to allow us to look at your own society as though you were an outsider. Mills encouraged every one of us as individuality to understand that our own personal fortunes or misfortunes must be understood in terms of larger public issues that we should see beyond self, see the hidden and be aware how our individual problems can impact the society. For example very specific circumstances might lead to one person becoming unemployed but when unemployment rates in society as a whole rise it becomes a public issue that needs to be explained (M. Harambolos & M. Holborn, 2004). He felt that developing a sociological imagination will help us to avoid becoming ‘victims’ of social forces
Sociological imagination – what is it? The term Sociological imagination was coined by a colourful and controversial New York‘s Columbia‘s university professor C. Wright Mills. The sociological imagination is the ability to see the interrelationships between biography and history, or the connections between our individual lives and larger social forces at work shaping our lives (K. Brown, 2005). One of the primary goals and main benefits of sociological imagination are to help to develop the ability to participate in social life and then step back and analyze broader meanings of what is going on in the world around us and finally to allow us to look at your own society as though you were an outsider. Mills encouraged every one of us as individuality to understand that our own personal fortunes or misfortunes must be understood in terms of larger public issues that we should see beyond self, see the hidden and be aware how our individual problems can impact the society. For example very specific circumstances might lead to one person becoming unemployed but when unemployment rates in society as a whole rise it becomes a public issue that needs to be explained (M. Harambolos & M. Holborn, 2004). He felt that developing a sociological imagination will help us to avoid becoming ‘victims’ of social forces