Sociologists are known for studying society and how the characteristics of the society alter behaviors or norms. One thing that is often overlooked however is how society can affect oneself. We typically assume that we have full autonomous control over the choices we make and the way we behave, including deciding our favorites (food, drink, movies, music, etc.). However, sociologists will argue that this is not the case. We don’t choose our favorites by pure chance, they are somewhat predisposed onto us based on our society, whether it be geographically, socioeconomically, or other factors of one’s life. The first step to sociological imagination is to understand this to be the case. Sociological imagination is the ability to understand how …show more content…
One that sticks out is that my favorite movie is Remember the Titans. It would be easy for me to say that this is my favorite because it is a good movie with some heartfelt messages mixed throughout. However, I can now better explain it using a sociological imagination. To start off, I grew up in a small town where Friday night football was king. I went to every single home game for years, and then I played football throughout high school. Having this love for football naturally pointed me towards movies about football. Of course, this love of football, in a way, came from my geographical location, so in a way this pushed me towards choosing Remember the Titans as my favorite movie. Another way that my social world shaped me into choosing this as my favorite movie is my high school coach. In many ways, my coach was very similar to Coach Boone from the movie. He was stern, commanding, but very passionate about his job and his players. It is easy to see how my social interactions with my coach aided my decision. My coach is what I was used to and what I liked, so it makes sense that I also liked watching Coach Boone from the movie. Understanding and applying the sociological imagination really help me to understand why Remember the Titans is my favorite movie, other than just the fact that it is a good