Sociological imagination

sociological imagination as I mentioned in other videos the sociological imagination is one of the most basic concepts in the discipline of sociology while many sociologists have given us insights into this concept the phrase itself the term itself was actually coined by Seawright Mills in his book the sociological imagination one way that he describes the sociological imagination is as the intersection between biography and history if you imagine two roads coming together one of them biography and the other history this point at which they meet is the point of a sociological imagination or the point the sociological imagination is trying to understand another way that Mills describes this is the ability to connect and see the connections between personal whereas he says seemingly personal and private matters to broader social historical conditions but the sociological imagination does is it enables us to see how seemingly personal aspects of our life are in fact very much influenced by broader social historical conditions there is a connection between them one example that Mills and others have used to explain the sociological imagination is the example of unemployment if you lose your job you're likely to think of that as a personal or private matter it's a personal problem that you don't have a job if however you begin to look around and you see that millions of other workers just like you are also losing their jobs for the same kinds of reasons things like a shrinking economy or the outsourcing of labor to other countries you begin to understand that that personal private concern is actually a very small part of a much larger social and historical problem personal issues are the result of social issues unemployment is one example another example that is useful and straightforward is the example of food food is interesting because all of us need it it's a basic biological necessity that we all take in some kind of nourishment but food also has a social meaning more than just a biological it forms a part of our identity we all know people who maybe consider themselves meat and potatoes kind of individuals or people who are vegetarians or foodies people often use food as part of their personal identity you've probably all played those silly get to know your games in which people ask you what your favorite food is because they consider it to be a part of your identity food is a personal private thing we think about the foods we like as a matter of personal choice or personal taste but they aren't always and they aren't completely if you'd imagine a group of people a group of young Americans going to a shopping mall or maybe a County Fair when they get hungry they're going to eat things like pizza or maybe a really big pretzel of some kind at a mall they often sell these or maybe use some kind of an ice cream cone that's pretty good ice cream cone huh in China a very similar group of young people going to a street market or some kind of community event might eat a very front set of things they might eat for example grasshoppers or crickets skewer it on a stick they might have some kind of grubs or snakes do or eels or other kinds of native foods many Asian countries close to the sea need a lot of squid squid often skewered on a stick and carry it around like a popsicle both groups of people consider these foods to be completely normal and very tasty and very desirable when Americans see a grasshopper they don't normally think of something to eat but other people in the world do while we think of food as being a personal matter a matter of personal choice what we find is that the society in which we live limits the selection of foods we have from which to create a what we might call a food identity if I live in China I have more of these options and maybe less of these options rather than the United States these foods are placed before me and not these ones now this isn't to say again that personal choice isn't important people in every country certainly have their preferences of what they like to eat and don't like to eat but the range of choices we have is often very much connected to the society in which we live another social condition or a social problem that is associated with the food we eat and if food we like is how hungry we are if a country is starving or going through economic trouble things that we once thought unpalatable become very tasty in time of need the sociological imagination to repeat is the connection or the ability to understand and see the connection between personal private matters and social historical conditions when we talk about food we get a little squeamish and we can kind of laugh about it but the same condition connection exists between much more serious matters such as unemployment as we explained before it relates to things like sexual desire standards of beauty ethical principles and ethical reasoning morals we think is right and wrong how we use our money how we use our wealth how we apply violence the kinds of people we accept the kinds of people we reject sociologists in all aspects of human life are trying to understand how social and historical conditions influence personal private choices desires and struggles this is the sociological imagination and it's one of the most important skills and insights provided by sociology thank you for watching

Channel: Sociological Dictionary

Views: 166,332

Rating: 4.9035497 out of 5

Keywords: Sociological Imagination, Sociology (Field Of Study), C. Wright Mills, definition sociological imagination, personal troubles

Id: x3ODLhxfZ74

Length: 6min 54sec (414 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 19 2015