Social Interaction : A Sociological Imagination

Sociological imagination is the way in which individuals realize the connection between their own experience of reality and the experiences of society as a whole. This realization allows people to make sense of the world around them. When one applies sociological imagination, they are stripping their own personal experiences from their thoughts to analyze the social world around them. It allows one to understand different perspectives of the world without the narrow lens of personal experience and bias. This is extremely important in modern society. For instance, in politics, it is very important to hold back personal beliefs when it comes to law-making. A politician who refrains from applying her own moral beliefs to her political agenda in attempt to create a better society is practicing the use of sociological imagination. She removes her own personal views of the world in order to see society’s views as a whole, and acts accordingly. In other words, sociological imagination is “taking the role of the other” to gain a wider understanding of a perspective other than one’s own.

Sociology consists of studying the behavior of humans in their daily interactions with others by use of the scientific method. However, the scientific method alone can only tell you what you are looking for in the selected data, omitting the possible bigger picture. With combination of C. Wright Mills’s concept of sociological imagination, we are able to step out of our mindset and attempt to view social problems and/ or issues in the most unbiased way possible.

Sociological imagination is merely the connection between a person and the society. Every person is connected to and influenced by society to a different extent. Some people are completely absorbed in society and feel obligated to keep up with the trends, or else they feel like an outlier. On the other hand, some people do not keep up with the trends of society because they could care less about others opinions. Sociological imagination can be used to show the relationship between both those types of people and the society, and it can be used to explain how people view society from their point of view. When people look at societies from an outsider’s point of view, “rather than only from the perspective of personal experiences and cultural biases” (Schaefer 4), they are able to notice the things that shape and mold their character. The outsider perspective also provides them with a better understanding of themselves by understanding the relationship between them and society.

Throughout the sports world there are many different players that have signature gesture that they are know for, but what people sometimes look past is that some of these famous gestures are actually their way to profess their faith. Some of the most famous gestures that are the athletes way to profess their faith and show the world what they believe in are gesture such as Tim Tebow’s thinking man pose or Stephen Curry’s point after making a basket. These are all very well recognized athletes that profess their faith on a very highly view stage where millions of people can see. To young kids who are looking from the outside at these famous and well know athletes profess their faith throughout it all and not to let the fact that people on

Throughout history, the relationship between individuals and society has been a puzzling conundrum. Humans generally tend to understand their own experiences and lives through an individualistic outlook in which society is simply a collection of individuals. However, C. Wright Mills and Allan Johnson disagree and relate the significance of a “sociological imagination” in connecting one’s experiences and life to a greater social context.

To see one’s self as more than just a person, but as a blade of grass in a field is to have a sociological imagination. One person being able to factor in current history and society norms as well as the conditions being placed on them(such as location and culture) at any given moment posses a wider perspective than a normal person and is able to view the world sociologically. The sociological imagination can be described as a capacity for viewing the world through multiple broad perspectives or in C. Wright Mills “The Promise of Sociology” he defins it as “the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society.”

1a. Sociological imagination shapes sociology by allowing people to observe the relationship of one’s life and their personal experiences with that of the larger picture (MYAY 4). A person is able to look at the 10,000 foot view instead of one particular instance, helping to uncover the relationships between certain people, events, culture, etc. If we fail to use our sociological imaginations then we may miss the connections between the problems or events we are trying to solve. For example, trying to understand the issue with obesity, or why bullying in school has increased in recent decades. If we are not able to connect the dots back to the bigger picture, then we are merely putting bad aids on

C. Wright Mills defines the Sociological Imagination as “the vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society.” Essentially the concept of the Sociological Imagination is the ability to think outside the box and the norms of our society in order to look at things in a new perspective. In order to have a Sociological Imagination an individual has to see things from a social point of view and be able to determine how they interact and influence one another. The concept of the Sociological Imagination can be applied to just about any behaviour or experience. An example of this could be the act of having a meal together as a family. This an be broken down into three different dimensions. First, it can be argued

When you are first introduced to the term sociological imagination, it may seem quite strange. Since many are unaware of what it may be, it is your Sociologist’s job to introduce you to what exactly a sociological imagination is, and help you

Sociology is a study of social behavior and human groups, mainly focuses on social relationships; such as, how it influences people's behavior, society, and how the relationship either develops or changes. Sociology helps explain what sociological imagination it. Therefore, in explanation C. Wright Mills is a sociologist and he described sociological imagination as an awareness of an relationship between an individual and society, for both today and in the past (Mills [1959] 2000a). Sociological Imagination lets people see links between immediate, personal social settings and remote, impersonal social world that surrounds and helps shape who we are. In addition, sociological imagination is basically looking at things in a different perspective;

The sociological imagination I could relate to are the relationship between the individual and society. Much of our learning this week reminds me of the philosophical and psychological influencers I adore like Socrates, Plato, and Freud. Since personal situations can be linked to the society we live in, the first step in using our sociological imagination is to recognize the connection between our individual experiences and the larger society. Mills encourages critiquing and questioning the world around us because he believed sociology can show that society, not ourselves and failures, are responsible for a variety of our trials and tribulations.

While emotion work is also done in the private life, emotional labor is a huge expectation within the workplace. Emotion management by employers creates a situation in which this emotion management can be exchanged in the marketplace. According to Hochschild, jobs involving emotional labor are defined as those that; require face-to-face (or voice) contact with the public, require the worker to be in an emotional state with another person, or allow the employer to exercise control over the emotional states and/or activities of employees (Hochschild, 1983). Unfortunately this can lead to employees becoming estranged from their own feelings within a work setting or organization (Grandey,

Although emotions are difficult to describe, all of the people experience those pleasant or unpleasant feelings that can affect mood and behavior. Emotions are related to personal experiences and are a response to certain situations. Controlling feelings to perform a job is called “emotional labor”. Acting in a positive way with consumers is a job requirement of many employees; demonstrating high energy, interest, eagerness, joy, and warmth. Always holding a smile and showing kindness. Even when there are obstacles and complaints, the interaction with a client, patient or student has to be as smooth as possible. In an attempt to hide real emotions, staff often engages in emotional labor.

According to The Promise of Sociology by C. Wright Mills, “sociological imagination is a special way to engage the world and to think sociologically is to realize that we experience as personal problems are often widely share by others like ourselves” (p.1). What C. Wright Mills is trying to get across about the meaning of sociological imagination is that a person is somewhat connected to each other because of what they are both experiencing. An example of this is when there is an event that a lot of people, their families are all experiencing the same feeling, which is grief for the loss of loved ones but there are not connected to each other. This is what C. Wright Mills means about sociological imagination that even though two people are not related to each other, they can both experience the same feelings or problems. Also, as time and days go by, a person can experience confusion or positive and negative events in his or her life that can affect that person’s mood or emotions. These feelings will aid the person to improve and know his or her purpose in society. In addition, as the person will endure and experience all of these emotions and feelings, the person will undoubtedly encounter other people who share the same feelings, values, and emotions that he or she is experiencing and may come to realize that each individual is interconnected in some way, either by experience or emotions.

Social interactions, one of the few necessities of humans, are the backbone of human fundamentals as they play a key role in human behavior. Consequently, I observed the different social interactions between the patrons that took public transportation and the students in the main lounge of my dorm. The reason why I decided to compare the two was because of their differences in setting as well as the familiarity of the “actors” with one another. The dorm lounge, a square, carpeted room with a piano on one side, pool table on the other, and a scattering of sofas, was the social hang out of the “actors,” students. In comparison, the bus was of metal construction, two seats on each side of 10 rows and a bench in the very back, was the setting for the “actors,” working class individuals and students. Before starting this experiment, I hypothesized that the majority of the commuters would most likely keep to themselves, whereas the students, due to familiarity, would converse with other students. One of the major challenges that I came across during the bus ride was that many people kept to themselves and showed little interaction between one another. In contrast, the students in the lounge made it difficult to keep actuate data as they tried to talk to me.