Created by sociologist C. Wright Mills, the term sociological imagination is used to assist in understanding human social behavior. This human behavior is usually either be patterned, assigned, or, guided by rules, which is where sociological imagination comes into the human life. Defined as an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society, sociological imagination refers to the relationship between personal struggles and struggles of the society. According to Schaefer, this ability to comprehend social surroundings around us and in ourselves help in shaping us by incorporating the sociological imagination with examples of family transformations from the last fifty years. Influenced by social institutions like school or friends, sociological imagination surrounds society in a social involvement. Family, which is probably the most basic social institution, can be interpreted as people related to one another whether through blood, marriage, or adoption. This group of people typically work together to take on responsibilities of each other and their society. The influence families have on their children’s choices as adults can be from this social imagination of the social norm. Unlike …show more content…
Wright Mills advocated using the social imagination to view divorce not simply as the personal problem of a particular man or woman but rather as a societal concern. Mills coined this term to emphasize the impacts of social change in a bigger picture. By connecting these personal troubles to public issues, even by taking out a simple thing, the entire social environment can change within the community because of this newfound imagination. “Through the complexities of the blended family, this private concern becomes a public issue that affects schools, governments agencies, businesses, and religious institutions,” this redefining of relationships and marriage throughout the last fifty years has challenged the term of sociological