Sociological Imagination Challenges

Mills said in his essay, “the most fruitful distinction with which the sociological imagination works is between ‘the personal troubles of milieu’ and ‘the public issues of social structure’” (1959, 4).

Quantitative and qualitative research generates from two different perspectives, and it provide different types of crucial information from the research subject. Qualitative research corresponds more with comprehensive and thorough descriptions of events, whereas quantitative research creates statistical models to explain events. Several advantages and disadvantages in qualitative and quantitative research, depends upon the researcher's purpose and area of focus and information that will answer those research questions (Creswell, (2013).

Also, the most productive difference with which the sociological imagination works is between “personal troubles of human environment” and “the public issues of society”. This theory is a part of sociological imagination because of it features all classic work of the social science. According to Wright “Troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others, it is a private matter: values cherished by an individual are felt by him to be threatened. Problems have to do with troubles that go beyond these local environments of the individual and the range of his interior life. An issue is a public problem: some rate valued by publics is felt to be disappearing”

The sociological imagination is the term Mills uses to describe one’s ability to see things socially. It is the ability to switch perspectives and be able to see the relationship between the two, to understand history and biography within society (Mills 2). Being able to switch between personal troubles and public issues and understanding the difference and relationship of the two plays a huge role in the use of the sociological imagination (Mills 4). Mill’s uses unemployment as an example. In a large city where we have just one person unemployed, we have a personal trouble. You look into the individual to find the reason and solution. If in this city, more than half of the population is unemployed, we have an issue. Looking into each unemployed individual will not help here. We must consider the economic and political institutions of the society (Mills 4). Mills also uses the example of war. The personal trouble may be to survive or finding a way to contribute to the wars end. The causes of the war would be the issue in this situation. Also, an issue, if the war will affect economic, political, family or religious institutions. The sociological imagination enables one to understand the meaning of the larger historical scene.

Every individual in the world has their own personal problems that they deal with every day. Some people do not realize that many other people go through the same hardships as well. From unemployment to psychological issues, there are many factors that disrupt individuals’ lives. Even though it is easier to place blame on one’s self, there is usually an underlying sociological problem that is the concern. One individual comprehended all these matters and created a concept that placed a relationship between individuals and society and the importance behind it.

The founder himself as coined by C. Wright Mills, has described the concept of the sociological imagination, of a way of thinking and researching people’s lives to show how they are connected to larger patterns of history and social processes. In everyday life, the use of the ‘Sociological imagination’ involves an individual asking questions about what is seemingly natural and obvious. Giddens (2009:6) states that It (sociological imagination) requires us to “think ourselves away from the familiar routines of our daily lives in order to look at them anew”.

There has probably been more energy spent on debating the difference, advantages and limitations between qualitative and quantitative research methods, it can be said that this issue has been debated to death with many spending years proving which methods is the best.

In my own words, The Sociological imagination is the relationship between the personal problem and society problems. It is also being able to understand that there are problem that man can control and possibly could change to benefit itself. The sociological imagination is also being able to understand that our personal action also have a big impact in our own society and to prevent those issues from happening, we must trying to avoid personal problems. When I went to visit my great grandfather village, clean water was only provided to the high class community. But after reading Mills’ article, it helps me understand that my great grandfather was having a public issue because he was not the only one to struggle finding clean water but roughly

Many individuals in today’s society have dealt with or still is dealing with one or more social problems. For instance, many are unemployed, have family issues, and even marital issues. A judgmental person would probably think that the individual is the reason for their own difficulties. However, sociology stresses that an individual problem often stems from society overall. Mills state that one needs to distinguish between personal troubles and society’s issue. The personal troubles are personal when they occur because of the individual’s life, and the social issue refers to issues which are direct results of the problem with society. A personal trouble, such as divorce, can affect the individual on so many levels. It causes emotions of anger and pain, which can have a long or short-term effect on the individual. Infidelity and financial assets

The sociological imagination can be related to experiences of individuals along with life in society. There are three main characteristics that come along with the sociological imagination, those being; history, social structure, as well as biography. In addition, to C.Wright Mills concepts of the sociological imagination, we enable ourselves in society to now have a better understanding of not only ourselves but also others through a sense of linking personal experiences. Due to some of the circumstances in my life, the key sociological factors that have occurred are education, gender, and inequality. These factors have allowed me to fully understand what the sociological imagination is and how it plays a part in my everyday life experiences.

In order for an individual to figure out the causes of their problems, they first have to be able to understand the causes of the problems in the society in which they are living in. The sociological imagination tries to

The Sociological Imagination was C. Wright Mills' attempt to present a humanist approach to sociology. Mills argued that the dilemma many individuals face is one of feeling that their private everyday lives are a series of traps that they are ill equipped to overcome. Wars, economic cycles, and social change have dramatic determining effects on the private lives of individuals. It is impossible to understand one's own life without understanding the society and history in which one is situated. Yet, people rarely define their troubles by historical change and institutional

Qualitative research is subject to judgments about the data and synthesizes the findings using specialized approaches such as experimental or non-experimental. Researchers often opt to use non-experimental approaches in studies using surveys, interviews, observations, and case studies. Even though an experimental approach is appropriate in quantitative research, it further enables researchers to find answers and collect data (Bagozzi & Yi, 2012). This approach is unique in its hypotheses and the study of behavior, making it valid and reliable.

Our world has many social problems that we try to solve or reduce in many different ways. In order to solve them, we must first look for them. Tara Hardinge is my Sociology professor. During her lecture, she stated that “Social problem it is a social condition that a part of society view as dangerous or harmful to members of society and there is a need to cure or remedy it” (Hardinge 2015). Linda Mooney, David Knox, and Caroline Schacht are Sociology professors at East Carolina University and are authors of the textbook Understanding Social Problems. Social problems have objective and subjective lements to them. Mooney, Knox, and Schacht state that "the objective element of a social problem refers to the existence of a social condition" (2). Mooney, Knox and Schacht also state that "the subjective element of a social problem refers to the belief that a particular social condition is harmful to society or to a segment and that it should and can be changed" (3). Sociological imagination is a term developed by American Sociologist, C. Wright Mills. Mooney, Knox, and Schacht state that "Sociological imagination refers to the ability to see the connections between our personal lives and the social world in which we live in" (. Mooney, Knox, and Schacht state that "Sociologists use sociological imagination to distinguish between “private troubles” and “public issues” and to see connections between the events and conditions of our lives and the social and historical

The method of the research is qualitative using semi-structured interviews. Qualitative researchers are interested to see how people make sense of their world and experiences and understanding the meaning they have constructed (Merriam, 2009). The qualitative research deals with texts, images and sounds while quantitative research deals with numeric data.