The Sociological Imagination By C. Wright Mills

Throughout the ages, the majority of the older members of society have always perceived the youth as unruly, reckless and undisciplined. The constant troubles facing the youth have often been scrutinized as a result of personal failure and wrong choice in association. However, the effect of historical events and societal structural conditions were seldom considered.

The meaning of Sociological imagination and C. Wright Mills:

During 1959 in his book titled “The Sociological Imagination,” the formidable C. Wright Mills first advocated the idea of a state of mind, which allowed the minutia of personal problems faced in everyday life to be comprehended by a greater influence, The term “sociological imagination”, coined by C. Wright Mills, is

A personal problem is described as a personal experience of trouble caused by events, experiences and emotions unique to the individual. A personal issue although facing the individual is experienced by a large number of people and is elicited or unsolved by historical events and the social as well as the environmental conditions of a society. Personal problems can be argued to be exclusive to the individual instead of being generated by societal structures or the history of the

Although sexual abuse amongst the youth is a worldwide phenomenon, according to SABC news (SABC News 2015), South Africa has been coined the rape capital of the world with only one percent of cases actually ever being reported to the police. A female child born in South Africa is more likely to be sexually abused in her lifetime than educated. This social issue can be linked to many greater societal structures namely culture and socialisation occurring across socio-economic backgrounds. Among reported cases one in six presents a female victim under the age of twelve however the percentage of sexually abused boys is climbing. Females are highly vulnerable due to culture that indoctrinates male dominance. Cultural norms among South African youth allow the social position of a child to be insignificant. Children are socialised to have unquestionable respect towards their elders by use of harsh sanctions, which allows sexual abuse to occur easily even among teachers that obtain high positions of authority in a child’s life. The health of a victim is maintained but again psychological therapy is disregarded leading to substance abuse, suicide and repeated offenses. In order to prevent the sexual abuse of the youth it is imperative that laws implemented are followed with harsh punishment and the social position of the youth should also be