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Sociological Imagination In The Martian

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Throughout the field of Sociology, Sociological imagination is a very important tool, not only for the sociologists, but also for individuals. It provides a deep understanding of the relationship an individual has with the rest of the society. It links people in different social statuses to fully comprehend the circumstances surrounding their everyday conflicts, personal or otherwise. In the Martian, a novel written by Andrew Weir, it portrays an astronaut left behind by his teammates in Mars, another planet far from earth. Surprisingly, Mark, the protagonist, did not panic, wallow, or curse his teammates for leaving him behind. He analyzed his situation level-headedly and evaluated the courses he could take to survive, despite how foreign this mars is to him (8). Norms, a subject that sociologists explore, establishes the standards for which people follow to maintain an amiable and functioning society. When delved deeper, norms are divided into folkways and mores. Folkways are requested, but not required, whereas, mores are demanded rules that must be followed, or the consequences will be devastating to the society. After being left behind in Mars, Mark did not blame the team for abandoning him because he knew the protocol to be followed if events liked his occurred. The protocol was a demand, a law, because, it was set to face the misfortune if …show more content…

For instance, we brush our teeth before bed, get cleaned up before school, etc. We interact with people, and socialize because it’s part of daily life. Despite Mark’s situation, stranded in Mars of all places, he writes a journal as if he is interacting with people. His logs are not only interactive, but also humorous, which indicated the socializations that he was accustomed to have and perhaps missing, yet he consoled himself through his logs and TV shows to let go of his frustrations (overall idea of the

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The sociological imagination refers to Mills notion on how social forces can influence an individual. He refers to it as an ability to see situations in a broader social spectrum and see how interactions can influence an individual and situations. It is important in terms of studying society because it is a way to help us see things not how they appear to be on a surface elements but through an alternative perspective. The differences between micro and macrosociology is that micro sociology studies people at an interpersonal way, such as face to face interactions while macro sociology studies people on a much larger scale by looking at the bigger picture. A societal issue that can be studied using both perspectives would be divorce.

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The sociological imagination allows a person to tell apart their personal problems from problems that affect society as a whole, however they can see how the two are connected. In doing this a person can discover that the current social structure and culture that surrounds them can be the root cause of their personal problems. One example is that an individual can see their personal problem of being poor as also the outcome of lack of resources in their community for obtaining higher education. Rather than seeing their problem as only something that affects him, he can see that various elements of his culture and the social structure surrounding him play into his

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Individuals within society are influenced by the socio-economic factors of the society which they inhabit. This essay will discuss Sociological imagination which was first mentioned by author C.W. Mills who wrote a book with the same title. The personal problem that will be discussed is childhood trauma, because it is broad this essay will focus more on depression and how it effects society on a larger scale. Lastly this essay will then show the advantages of using Social Imagination in our everyday life’s and how we can use it to the benefit of society on a wider scale. Social Imagination is the concept of being able to differentiate a personal problem from a problem that is affecting a wider society on a much larger scale.

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In Sociology, “Sociological imagination is a person’s ability to connect his personal experiences to the society at large and to a greater extent, to historical forces. Sociological imagination allows a person to question customs or habits that seem natural to him. It is a person’s ability to think away from the familiar routines people take in everyday life.” (“What is The Sociological Imagination, 2016). In other words, the sociological imagination focuses on the idea of someone understanding on who what why and how certain things shape the way a person lives or interacts with people.

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Introduction The Sociological Imagination Defined The sociological Imagination is a form of analytic thinking, a concept that enables one to take into context the set societal patterns that affect and impact both an individual and the wider society. These patterns are characterised as personal troubles and/or societal issues. Sociologist C. Wright Mills was one of the initial social scientists to have written on this concept, in one of his books titled The Sociological Imagination (1959). According to Mills (1959), the task of sociology was to understand the relationship between individuals and the society in which they lived.

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In Mills’ publication, he describes the sociological imagination as “a quality of mind that will help them [humans] to use information and to develop reason in order to achieve lucid summations of what is going on in the world and of what may be happening within themselves”. (Mills, 2000, p. 5). Giddens, in his publication ‘Sociology: A brief but critical introduction’, concurs with Mills’ definition of the sociological imagination, and further states that three particular views are essential to understanding the social world: “an historical, an anthropological, and a critical sensitivity.” (Giddens, 1986, p. 13). Mills believes that the sociological imagination deals largely with two main components: the individual, and society.

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