Reflection On Sociological Imagination

In my understanding of the sociological imagination I can define it as removing one’s self from their own personal issues or troubles and look at it in a broader context in relation to a particular society facing the same issues. It is basically removing yourself from a familiar environment and looking at it in a larger perspective and having an open mind. My main focus is on Mill’s perspective of the sociological imagination as well as using his theory when discussing and identifying a challenge in education. I will also be looking at Anthony Giddens, Drapers and Pam Christie’s point of view and opinions on Mill’s perspective of the sociological imagination.

“Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood

Here Giddens talks about anthropology and how he believes it relates to the sociological imagination. He talks about different types of societies and how they differ from others due to the fact that they all have different practices, religions or views. He also mentions how different societies would judge one another due to the different practices they had and not quite understanding where these practices came from. This brings up the sociological imagination as it is identifying that people are influenced by their social structures and haven’t looked beyond their social content to understand why different societies behave the way they do. “Only by breaking free of the straightjacket of thinking in terms of the type of society we know here and now”( Giddens, 1986, p22) can we understand society as a whole, and the only way to do that is by looking at both the historical and anthropological extent of society. Talking about marriage for instance, different religions have different views on marriage and people can get very defensive when it comes to what they believe. Christians and Catholics believe you only marry a person if you are completely in love with them. Other religions believe in planned weddings where the bride and groom don’t quite have a say on who they marry. Although both these two different types of religions would disagree with

This is a challenge because the children do not have the essential equipment and tools needed in order to help them learn, develop new skills or read and write. This is a huge problem in South Africa as our future generation is not being exposed to proper education that they will need in order to carry out our country’s legacy and sustain this beautiful country. Introducing Mills sociological approach into this content we can look at this challenge in a broader context. The personal trouble would be that the children are not being exposed to the proper education they need and will struggle when they get to high school. This could lead to the children becoming frustrated, despondent or even rebellious, which could even result in the increase of crime and drugs in South Africa. This will probably result in the children not achieving marks they could have if the school had the proper resources. The Public issue would be how the economy and industry will be able to continue to grow and develop if the unemployment rate starts to increase due to the fact that our younger generation is not exposed to the appropriate education they need and are not competent to fulfill available positions. This is why the sociological imagination is such an important thing to grasp. “What they need, and what they feel they need, is quality of mind that will help them to use